Skyland: The Evil Gene
by Konoha-Crash
Summary: -AU to the other fics- Captured by Oslo on a water retreival mission, Cortes becomes a human test subject in Oslos twisted "Sunlight Gene" project. Can he survive being a part of a sphere plan? Will he ever get back home? -YAOI, CortesxOC-
1. Capture

They'd been rumbled. a routine, well seemingly routine water expedition had gone wrong. Somehow the sphere had found out, and had sent skyland's equivalent of bounty hunters along.

Now they were all running for their lives. Well, all four of them. Cortes, Dahlia, Wayan and Mahad, who'd badgered Cortes into bringing him.

"Dead end!" Mahad squeaked as they rounded a corner. Desperate, Cortes looked around, and spotted a vent. "Up there!" he ordered. Since it was a fair height from the floor, he assisted in giving everyone else a boost.

Just as he was giving Mahad a hands up, he heard footsteps approaching. He knew then he had no choice. If then even caught a glimpse of them entering the vent, they'd be scuppered for sure. He literally shoved Mahad into the vent, ordering him to close it behind him, then took off. He ran past the intersection, spotting the hunters there.

"Hey lardasses, catch this!" he made a very rude gesture then took off. He heard them running after him, and he put on a burst of speed, rounding a corner and- coming face to face with Oslo.

"Fuck.." he muttered, turned to go back, only to have the hunters close in behind him. They all aimed their heavy-duty plasma rifles at him, and he felt a sinking feeling. He was gonna die..

"Well well..." Oslo smirked, advancing on Cortes, who backed up away from him. "You look familiar..ah yes...i remember, you're the one who Molotov cocktailed that shipment of materials..."

Cortes smirked faintly at the memory. All it had taken was a single cocktail, and the more volatile materials had gone up in flames, which led to everything burning to ashes.

"That little stunt cost us dearly, now its time to repay the debt.."

"Go to hell.." Cortes responded "id rather shoot myself then help you.." hearing the rifles loading behind him he let off a volley of rude words. --forgot about those..--

"That can be arranged..." Oslo sneered, looking him over in a way that made Cortes feel vaguely sick,"but thatd be letting you off far too damn easy..i have other plans for you...grab him!"

Cortes turned in time and managed to duck under the hunters arm and run off again. But he'd forgotten about Oslo. The shot struck him in the back, knocking the air from his lungs and sending him crashing to the floor. He tried to pull himself up, but on turning round, seen the butt of a rifle heading for him..

One hit and he was out like a light. Oslo walked up, smirking down at the unconscious pirate. "I have my uses for you, death would letting you off far too easy....you're mine now."

One of the hunters picked Cortes up, and followed Oslo with the others.

Di-wan tapped her foot against the ground. She was bored waiting. Oslo had told her to wait outside in case those rebels came that way, but they damn well hadn't. She only hoped the hunters had caught at least the girl...

She seen Oslo walking towards her and she stood to attention, acknowledging her superior as he approached.

"Anything commander Oslo?" she asked.

Oslo smirked "the girl got away this time...but i found a suitable test subject for the research tests.."

"Who..?" she asked, squinting in the bright light as the hunters exited the building.

"That little bastard that blew up the shipment last time...i was going to kill him...but that's too easy.."

Di-wan smirked as she seen the body one of the hunters had in his arms. "Ah yes, him...hes a slippery one, escaped us several times...so he let the rest get away? how...disgustingly sweet..."

"His mistake will cost him dearly...ill make sure he exists in a world of pain.." Oslo laughed as he walked onto the ship.

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Cortes drifted awake...his head ached. He was lying somewhere. His first thought was he'd fallen asleep in his cabin again. Then he realised the he was looking at a ship ceiling he didn't recognise, and secondly, he was bound by chains. He moved a hand to his neck, a metal collar was there, and the chain connected to it was...

Someone was holding onto the other end, someone familiar The hunter that'd chased him. Well one of them. He tried to sit himself up, only to discover his wrists had manacles on them too, preventing him from moving his arms. He began to panic silently. What was happening?

"Hmph you're awake, good timing..on yer feet!" a rough voice commanded, and the handler of the chain tugged on it, pulling him rather jerkily to weakened legs. At least they weren't chained together...

Disorientated and dizzy he stumbled along as he was towed by the hunter. His attempts to ask what the hell was going on only resulted in another whack to the head with the rifle..

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"We cant leave! we have to go back!" cheng cried desperately.

Wayan sighed sadly "we cant cheng..those guys were bounty hunters..if they caught Cortes chances are they took him to Oslo..and we don't know where...it could be the monolith or somewhere else...."

The mood on the ship was grim. Mahad felt the worst..Cortes had made every effort to get HIM outta danger, then he'd run blindly into trouble.

"He did it so we could get to the ship..he was trying to save all of us.." he said at last.

"We have to get him back!" Lena stressed. "we owe him to at least try!"

Wayan sighed "i know..but we gotta be well prepared. Well go back to puerto angel and come up with a plan.."

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He was shoved roughly into a cell, the door slammed behind him. He winced, curling onto his side then somehow sitting himself up. It was pitch black in there. He leaned back against the wall, closing his eyes. He hoped the rest of his crew had gotten away, if they had, this would all be worthwhile...

He let himself drift into sleep, anything to escape the nightmare...

------------

But what seemed like moments later, though was actually a few hours, he was woken up and dragged out of the cell. He was guided along a long winding hall, people in lab coats stopped to gawp at the chained prisoner, the whispers growing louder when they seen his uniform.

"Did commander Oslo allow human testing?"

"That mans a pirate..far as Oslo cares, they're little more then cockroaches to him.."

"Still...using him in the "Sunlight Gene Project", isn't that a little harsh?"

"It is a bit early on in the testing...Oslo must have a particular bone to pick with this guy.."

Cortes heard all this and felt sick. He was a guinea pig?

He was shunted into a dimly room. The hander tightened his grip on the chain and called to someone standing at the main console.

"Commander Oslo's orders.." here he shoved Cortes forward, so the manacled human landed on the floor with a thump. "the test round is to be done on him. Disregard the simulation tests, his orders are to use live subjects.." then the hunter turned and left, the lab door locking behind him.

There was a sigh, then "well, i never thought he'd go this far..." The lab head knelt down, getting a closer look at Cortes. "I hate to put you through this. i don't think using live subjects is right this early on. But i don't have a choice, i cant disobey Oslo's orders.." Seeing the pained look in the captives eyes he turned away, motioning his aides to fetch a sedative.

"Why do you follow him?" the prisoner blurted suddenly, "if you disagree with what he's doing, stop doing it!"

The doctor sighed and looked at him "you've obviously been trying long enough...denying Oslo's orders is deadly...as his enemy you should know.."

"How many people will he give you? as many as you want...what're you going to do if one of your subjects dies? just brush it under the carpet?! WHO ARE YOU TO SAY WHAT PEOPLES LIVES ARE WORTH. I'm not just talking about me, I'm talking about the rest he's probably already procuring you..You can stop this genocide.." Cortes voice held an impassioned, desperate edge.

Someone tugged the back of his collar, and he felt a needle tip press against his neck.

"I'm sorry for what you're going to go through, but i haven't a choice..I'll try to make it as easy as i can.." the doctor muttered silently as he watched the aide inject the sedative. The prisoner cast him one last pleading look, then he passed out.

"Does Oslo seriously want us to use this guy?" the aide asked "the full therapy treatment..? seems a little extreme.."

"he does I'm afraid..." the head doc sighed, looking at Cortes. "pirate or no....he doesn't deserve this..but we cant halt the testing.."

"How right you are doctor...Master Oslo would be very angry if you did that.." a cold voice announced.

The head doc jumped, whipping round to look at the figure that had just entered.

"Ah..uh, of course..." he stammered. This guy creeped him out.

He was about the same height as the prisoner, short blonde hair and cold blue eyes. Metal wings folded close to his back. He was a highly advanced AI, a robot, yet so close to a human it was almost indistinguishable.

"Is this the subject?" the robot asked, walking over to where the aide had placed Cortes on a gurney.

"Y-yes it is..mr. Sirus sir.." the doctor added.

The blonde stared down at the human, his head tilted to the side. "Oslo has captured many before, what makes this one special..?"

"I don't know sir..he just gave us orders to use him...and make sure he stays alive..."

Sirus shrugged. His master had captured other pirates before, but they'd been used as slaves aboard the monolith, or as target practise by Oslo and di-wan. It was a harsh end for these people..but he wasn't there to disagree with his master. Although something about this whole idea was setting off internal alarms, and he felt slightly uneasy.

--I wonder what your name is...no doubt Oslo just had you down as another statistic...--

The doc blinked, noticing the angel had fallen silent, looking at the test subject, he seemed to be debating something.

"Sir?" he asked. The angel blinked, then snapped out of it.

"Begin your work now, my orders are to oversee the operation, make sure you follow orders..." he said, stepping away from the gurney and walking over to the main console.

The doctor sighed, and motioned to the aide "ready the operating table...we'll start phase one now..."

The study was to see if it was possible to isolate the saijin gene. After years of tests, they'd finally isolated most the said genes, and had been working on ways to fuse them with ordinary people. So far the simulations had shown a high success rate. But never before had a test subject been used. Oslo wanted to create people that could be used as guardians.

The doctor had pressed even if the genes took, the subject would need training to use them..

---------------------------------------------

Partway through the op Cortes woke up. He found himself strapped to a table. the chains had been removed, but he was bound to the table by tough leather straps. Needles were stuck in his arms, they were linked up to a variety of chemical drips by the looks of them. His whole body hurt, he wanted it to stop.

He twisted in the straps grip. There was a clatter as the aide dropped the tray he was holding in shock.

"let me go, please!" he heard himself calling desperately, then pain hit again in waves. he twisted his head round, catching a glimpse of someone watching from a viewing room above the op room. Brown eyes met cold blue ones.

--Please..whoever you are...stop this..-- he begged silently. But the strange man just watched him, his expression unchanged.

Someone was attempting to restrain him, pinning his shoulders down on the op table. He fought valiantly, when a jab in his arm alerted him to another sedative drug. He felt himself weakening..and as the aide let go of him, he drifted back into sleep.

"How are the levels?"

"Heart rate and blood pressure resuming normal levels doctor."

"Good..now lets get this part over with...so he can at least rest peacefully for the night.."

The aide looked at the again unconscious Cortes and nodded. "right, sir"

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As he seen the doctor finishing phase one, sirus turned away from the window and pulled a cell phone from his pocket. He pressed a speed dial number ad waited.

"Report, how did it go?" Oslo answered immediately.

"Phase one appears to have been successful."

"Any complications?"

"Subject woke up partway through the operation, but was successfully re-sedated without complication to the surgery"

"Good. make sure you get regular updates. If this is successful...ill be able to control him! Pit him against his own kind.."

"As you wish master Oslo." with that said, sirus closed the conversation.

Sighing he thought back to when the human had seen him, their eyes had met for a few seconds. The pain and fear in the guy eyes, that desperate look of hope, as if he thought he, Oslo's aide, was going to help him...

But that look, something about this guy unnerved him, yet fascinated him. --I'll have to talk to him once he's conscious, i have a few questions for him..--

------------------------------------------------

When next he woke, it was to immense pain in his head. Someone was standing over him, talking to someone out of sight.

"All levels appear normal, no response as of yet, but its still only in the first phase..."

"Well move him to the sleeping area in the solar room once the therapy is complete..the gene must be encouraged to grow.."

"Of course commander Oslo.."

There were footsteps, then the door slammed. Just the doc remained. he leaned over the patient noticing he was conscious.

"How are you feeling? Any residual sickness?" the doc asked, scribbling on a notepad.

Cortes looked silently at him for a moment, then turned his head away, keeping his mouth shut.

The doctor sighed. He couldn't begin to imagine how the test subject must feel. He wondered as to the mans name, age but decided knowing such details would only make it harder to continue the op.

-------------------------------------------------

"Any luck yet commander?" di-wan asked as she seen Oslo emerge from the medical lab area.

"Some. The first phase was successful, although he yet to regain consciousness. That doctor said it wont show until the last phase, if its taken."

"When is the next phase?" di-wan asked.

"It is to begin tomorrow morning." a smooth voice answered. She looked oer as sirus strode over. She partly resented the angel-bots presence as Oslo's aide. The guy was just a little too smarmy. Too confident.

"Why the delay?" di-wan asked him sharply.

Sirus looked over at her and smiled faintly "The doctor is concerned too much in one go will cause severe mental trauma and inhibit the best result.."

"Pathetic" di-wan snorted "the fool just feels sorry for that useless pirate..."

"That as it may be..we cant risk him having a mental breakdown, it will cause problems. I don't want this to fail..that pirate will be mine to control..It wont take long to break that spirit."

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"So what can we do?" Mahad asked. Wayan sighed "i don't know Mahad....we need to find out more about these hunters. Where they work, where Cortes is likely to be..."

"Then lets put out a notice...reward for any decent info on these guys!" Lena suggested.

The vector nodded "ill call in a few favours, see what i can do..."

--Hang in there Cortes..-- Mahad thought --were gonna find you!--


	2. Insult to Injury

That night he was plagued by nightmares, he tossed and turned in his bed, lost in a terrifying dream. Blood splattered across the floor, light gleaming off a sharp scalpel blade. He could hear his own terrified shouting, then the blade slashed down once more...

"no..please.." he said pleadingly as the dream continued "don't do this.."

The monitors beside the bed bleeped, recording any changes to his mind and body, waiting for the genes to take hold...

The nightmare reached a crescendo and he tore free from it, sitting bolt upright in bed. Then he stomach lurched unpleasantly, and he made a dash for it, tear free the wires and monitors connected to him. The machines sent out a shrill wail, an alarm going off in the doctors office.

Shivers racked his whole body as he huddled by the toilet. Memories of his ship, who he was came flooding back. Grasping a glass he brought crashing to the floor. Grabbing a shard he pulled his sleeve up...

* * *

Sirus looked up as the alarms went off.

"Patient has disconnected from the machines. please re-connect.." the computer intoned.

The doctor and his aide, followed by sirus, unlocked the rooms door and barged in.

"Where is he?" the angel snapped. then noticed the bathroom door was open..

"Let me handle him sir.." the doctor said quietly, walking into the bathroom.

He knelt down by the shaking patient. "What happened, can you walk?" the man shook his head.

"Leggo me.." he mumbled incoherently as the doctor pulled him to his feet and half carrying him, began taking him back to the bed.

Cortes could barely see straight, everything seemed to blur, he didn't have the strength to move....

The doctor got him to the bed, and with the aides help laid him down.

"Wait.." sirus interrupted as the doc made to pull the blanket over him, "what're those cuts on his fingers..."

The doc took a look at the aforementioned, "there was a broken glass in the bathroom, he no doubt knocked it over in his muddled state, then must've tried to pick it up..."

Sirus frowned, but let it go. The subject didn't seem in any state to try anything funny.

As the doc reconnected the wires, the patient flinched in his sleep, making a faint, scared noise.

"Take it easy..it wont hurt for much longer.." the doctor whispered gently to him. He sighed in relief as Cortes drifted asleep again, his breathing easing out a little.

--Oslo's gone too far with this...is his intention to make this man suffer?--

* * *

The next morning Cortes was drugged and brought to the operation room again. He was kept heavily sedated the whole time, at the doctors orders.

The aide moved to roll up the patients sleeve to start the IV processes, and caught sight of something.

He called the doctor over to take a look. Scratched into the mans arms, the marks already healing, was a symbol. The symbol on the uniform the subject wore.

"So that's what he did with the glass.." the doctor muttered, "what an odd thing to do..."

His aide shrugged "must've been delirious or something..."

--Or maybe he doesn't want us to forget where he came from...a rebel pirate..-- the doctor thought.

With a sigh he continued with the next phase, a series of injections to increase the chances of success..plus the gene infusions.

After the op the doc tried to get his patient to eat, but Cortes refused, he hadn't spoken a word since last night.

Sirus approached the doctor as he left the patients room. "Progress?"

The doc sighed "he wont take any food or liquids, he's unresponsive to my questions, didn't even react when i examined him. Didn't Oslo realise the side-effects human genome therapy can have..?"

"The masters concern is that it works, not what state of mind the subject is in." sirus responded "is the gene taking or not..."

"We wont know until later, for now we just have to monitor brain activity. The third phase will be later tonight...at the commanders insistence."

"Good. Don't go feeling sorry for him, he's a test subject, nothing more." with that the angel walked away.

The doc sighed. That guy was so cold. So unemotional.

* * *

Sirus sighed as he wandered the halls. Something about that human patient was bothering him. The guy was fighting what was happening to him with such a strength, no matter how much pain he was in. His strength and will were admirable. He thought back to what Oslo had said, how he intended to break the mans will somehow. He sighed, shaking his head. He wasn't to question his masters orders, Oslo would have him dismantled. But a growing part of him was feeling pity for the helpless subject...

* * *

Cortes drifted in and out of consciousness, his head hurt so badly he could hardly think. His throat was so dry..

Managing to move his head he spotted a glass of water perched on the bedside table.

--Just a little...closer...-- he though weakly, staring at the glass. The pain seemed to get worse...

The glass wobbled, teetered, then actually tilted off the table, floating....

It was only for a brief second, then it slammed back down again, and Cortes blacked out..

The machines bleeped, processing the change in mental capacity and forwarding it to the doctor.

* * *

Oslo was just about to give di-wan her orders when the doctor came barrelling into the office.

"This better be important!" di-wan raged, but the doc took no notice. He waved a sheaf of paper at Oslo.

"Its working commander!"

"What?" Oslo gaped "are you sure..?"

The doctor nodded, handing him the graphs and papers, "There's a definite increase in brain wave function, as well as a high rise in pulse and heart rate.." he pointed to two stills fro the video feed he'd installed.

"Look closely...i left that glass right there, full to the top..."

"Its moved.." di-wan blinked, peering at the info, "does this mean he's able to control it?"

The doctor shook his head. "My guess is the pain from the phase two op was out of control, and sought an outlet...in this instance, telekinesis ..one of the saijin traits..."

Oslo laughed "incredible! we'll have created the worlds first man-made guardian!"

The doctor sighed "at this stage, pushing too hard will cause a systemic burnout...phase three will be done tonight..after that, he will need a few days rest otherwise it could still go wrong."

Oslo thought for a moment, then nodded "very well. but i'll station sirus to watch over him, just in case.."

"Of course sir." the doctor said as he left..

* * *

Both di-wan and Oslo joined the blonde angel as the third phase went underway.

"I can sense it.." Oslo laughed, watching the sedated figure "its faint..but there's something there.."

"And if it grows?" di-wan asked.

"He will have considerable power, trained properly we may be able to pit him against that girl and her brother.."

"It would seem to be a success." sirus added, watching the doctors "if the third phase goes well...its just a matter of waiting.."

When the op was finished, the doctor came up to join them. His prognosis was that it had been a success. If it worked...the human would be gifted with saijin abilities like none before.

As ordered, the patient was moved to a room specially created for the purpose. Much like a light chamber, the solar room took in sunlight during the day, stored, then released it during the night.

* * *

Where was he now? This room smelt different...FELT different..

Slowly Cortes opened his eyes, closing them again as his head pounded. After several minutes he was able to open them and sit up. He was in a large, soft bed, in a brightly lit room. Light panels covered the whole ceiling, and thee were others along the wall. On the far side was a window that ran the length of the room.

Something felt odd. He looked down at himself. Someone had take the rather perverse liberty of chaining his clothes. He now wore pristine white pyjamas, with the sphere crest on. Hung over a chair by his bed was his uniform and personal items. His hair was free fro its ponytail, and someone had obviously brushed while he slept.

He pulled up his sleeve, looking at the now fading scar he'd etched into his skin, the pirate symbol.

--Try and change me all you want Oslo you freak...I'm still ME..-- he thought angrily. He edged slowly off the bed, trying to persuade himself to stand. It took some effort, but he managed. he staggered over to the window. Outside he seen nothing but clouds and a block far off in the distance.

"You're awake at last!" a voice announced, and he whipped round, grasping the window to steady himself.

The doctor had entered, and stood behind him was the same guy he'd seen from the op room. the one watching them..

Cortes glared at him, saying nothing.

"I just need to give you a check over.." the doctor said placidly as he stepped towards Cortes. But the newly created saijin was not having any of it.

His head began to ache as he recalled every little thing he'd been through the last day or two.

The doc was standing right by him now "Now hold still while i take a blood sample-"

"no...NO!" Cortes' panic reached its peak, and he wished the man would leave him alone...

There was a blinding blue flash, and the doctor was pushed away by a sudden sharp force.

Getting to his feet he looked at Cortes, who had collapsed to the floor, hands to his head. There was a fading blue glow around him. Then it was gone and the patient slumped to the cold floor.

"My god..so fast..." he gaped.

"Ill go notify the commander." sirus said, looking at Cortes as the doctor carted him to the bed and wrapped him up in the blankets again.

* * *

"You're certain?" Oslo asked the blonde robot.

Sirus nodded "the doctor tried to approach him and he lashed out. It was only brief, but the aura saijins produce was definitely there..."

"Excellent...with proper training he'll become a superb guardian...all that's left now is to snap that defiant spirit!"

Di-wan blinked "how do you intend to that?"

Oslo smirked "oh i have my ways..."

That said, he left the office, heading down to the solar room, Ordering sirus to follow.

* * *

Cortes forced himself to wake up again, he'd briefly blacked out, but he could already feel his strength returning. It was because of the sun light...he knew what he become. A false saijin, a lab-grown one.

He spotted a potted plant by the window. He tilted his head to the side, mentally willing to smash. It swayed, tipped, then fell off its stand. But it didn't hit the ground, instead it hovered there as he stared at it..

"Impressive, for one so newly-created..." a smarmy voice interrupted. Cortes jumped, his concentration broken. This time the plant DID smash to the floor, but he paid it no heed. Instead he got slowly to his feet, backing up slightly.

"You should be grateful..." Oslo continued "now you'll actually be doing useful with your pathetic existence!"

"What...makes you think...id ever be grateful to YOU Oslo, you lunatic..." Cortes snarled.

"I'd watch your mouth you little ingrate bastard. You've got power far beyond any human, all you need to do to survive is learn to keep that awful temper of yours in check."

"GO fuck yoursel-yeargh" Cortes was cut off as Oslo swiped a blast at him,. It hit him in the gut, and he staggered.

Next thing he knew he was being forcibly grabbed and pinned to the bed. He tried to push the guy off him, but he was too weak. Playing with the potted plant had used more energy then he'd thought..

"Ill teach you a lesson you'll never forget you ungrateful wretch!" Oslo sneered, reaching for the captives clothing..

* * *

Standing outside the door sirus listened to the ruckus going on inside. There was shouting, then a cry of pain. a muffled struggle, then Oslo's cruel tones.

The prisoner was shouting and crying out in pain, begging to be let go...for it to stop. There was the sound of something being hit...then nothing more.

--What's going on....is the master torturing him?-- sirus wondered, confused.

After a little longer, the noise ceased. Oslo sauntered out of the room, smirking.

"Is everything sorted, sir?" sirus asked him.

Oslo smiled coldly, "He'll be a good little test subject unless he wants more pain..i gave him a taste of what'll happen if he disobeys me."

Sirus had a sudden feeling Oslo had done something cruel to the newly awake saijin..

"Stay here, make sure he doesn't try anything funny...deal with him if he does. Use...whatever force necessary, he'll know to behave himself.."

"Of course....sir.." sirus said at last. He waited until the commander was long out of sight before turning his attention to the door. On the other side his sensitive hearing could pick out muffled cries..

* * *

Cortes lay on the bed, curled up in a ball, holding his somewhat torn and rumpled clothing tightly around him. The pain was terrible, he tried move only for it to get worse..he buried his head in the pillow, making a miserable noise. His life had become a living nightmare since capture, he'd been tweaked, altered, then assaulted. All to prove some twisted, warped genetic plan.

He'd been too weak to fight Oslo off. It was worse then the nightmares..pain from cuts and wounds he could deal with...but this? It was humiliating..

He gave up all pretences of keeping the pain hidden, and gave in...damp droplets splashing onto the pillow..

He just about had a heart attack when someone's hand resting gently on his shoulder.

"No, get off me, haven't you had enough!?" Cortes cried, pushing whomever it was away from him and catapulting off the bed, landing on the floor with a bump.

"Its alright, I'm not here to hurt you. I wanted to see if you were alright, it sounded like master-"

"You're MASTER god-damn RAPED me you fucking piece of scrap metal!! I daresay you're here for the same thing..after all.." Cortes voice had a hysterical tone to it "why would a sphere creation help ME." He got to his feet, pain lashing through him.

"Be careful, you'll make it worse." the blonde angel said, sounding..concerned? He walked over to Cortes and attempted to steady him.

Cortes laughed coldly "don't give me that...why don't you just cut the crap and get it over with? You're not here to help, Oslo just sent you to "punish" me again didn't he?!"

"Is that what he said he'd do to you?" sirus asked, frowning.

Cortes was on the verge of a nervous breakdown, "of course it was you ass! If i don't act like a good little pawn, he'll do it again.." he wobbled unsteadily, the pain making it hard to stand. He slumped to the floor, crying from the pain.

Sirus watched him, what the human had just said running through his head. He'd ignored Oslo's cruel treatment of people before..but he'd never seen the master go to such lengths to hurt someone before..it just wasn't right. Something clicked, and he felt a sudden flash of anger towards his master. This human didn't deserve this. To be kidnapped, genetically altered then raped, it was too heartless of him to ignore this time..

He knelt down by the shaking Cortes, and gently reached out, taking his hands. "I'm sorry. i had no idea what he was doing to you.."

Cortes didn't attempt to pull away, "just get it over with...you don't have to force me, its not like i can fight back is it?" his voice was cold as ice.

"I'm not going to do that to you, i promise." using the edge of his sleeve he attempted to mop away the humans tears. Cortes looked up, at last meeting his helpers gaze.

"Why are you doing this? if he catches you he'll destroy you.." the pirate asked him.

Sirus sighed "I've seen the things he does, but stupidly, I've just followed his orders..never questioned them. I've turned a blind eye to too much suffering now. What he's done to you..i cant allow it to go on."

Cortes looked at then down at the floor again. "why should i believe you.." he said at last.

"Because i want this to stop. I've had enough of Oslo treating humans like their disposable objects...i saw how much pain the operations caused you. I don't want any more people to be used as his pawns.."

Cortes was silent, he couldn't think what to say to that.

Sirus patted his hair gently "stay here..i'll go run a bath, it'll ease the pain a little.." leaving Cortes where he was, he went into the en-suite bathroom, and set about running a nice warm bath.

Cortes sat where he was, in too much pain to move on run away. He didn't understand why Oslo's little lackey was helping him, part of him even suggested it was a trap. But why would Oslo set it up? It didn't make sense...

But the look in the guys eyes, he looked genuinely apologetic for what his master had done. Something had prompted him to finally dig his head outta the sand and see what his master was really up to. Something about him…

He shook his head side to side, clearing it. Why was he getting that idea? Even though the guy seemed nice, he couldn't fully trust him, he WAS sphere built after all..

Sirus returned from the bathroom, "can you walk?" he asked gently.

Cortes shook his head, shivering again.

Sirus nodded, then very gently picked him up, carrying him easily into the bathroom. He sat him on the edge of the bath.

"Ill go fetch you clean clothes..you just relax, ill be back asap." with that he was gone.

Cortes sighed, then somehow got himself into the bath. It DID feel nice...and the heat of the water made the pain fade a little way...he leaned against the side of the tub, feeling sick and worn out. He missed his home, his ship. Where his crew OK? Were Mahad and Lena still safe in puerto angel? He wished he knew...he thought about his chances of ever going back. Very slim. Anorexic even.

--I wanna go home...but I'm trapped here...--

* * *

Sirus sighed as he finally got back to the room. On his way to the supplies room, he'd been cornered by di-wan, demanding an update. He'd told her what she wanted to hear, then cleared off. He disliked her, and knew she outright hated him, so they rarely spoke if they could help it.

He'd fetched a few supplies and legged it back to the room.

He went over to the bathroom door and knocked lightly, "Its just me..." he opened the door only wide enough to set the clean clothing on a chair by the door. "I've got some food as well.."

Cortes nodded and sighed "right..." he said softly. Reluctantly he had to haul himself out of the bath. As he pulled the undergarments on, he caught sight of the bruise patterns that were now making themselves visible. He felt his stomach lurch, and had to dive for the toilet as his stomach rejected its contents at the memory.

"I'll make sure you never forget who owns you now.." Oslo's cold voice taunted him. He shivered, feeling a fresh wave of sickness. The marks might fade in time...but Oslo would no doubt make sure he was given a fresh set. Eventually he managed to get to his feet and finish dressing himself in the clean uniform, shivering in disgust as he looked at the sphere logo.

Very hesitantly he stumbled out of the bathroom. The angel turned to greet him, and helped him stagger back to bed. After some persuasion Cortes managed to eat a little, but he soon felt tired.

As he snuggled back under the heavy quilt, the angel asked him one last question: "..what's your name..?"

Cortes hesitated before finally telling him.

Sirus smiled "Cortes hm? It's nice, suits you perfectly...

Cortes just managed a faint smile...then he fell asleep.

* * *

MOOSE! Sorry. Had to get that outta my system. Again this was a fic i wrote ages before posting it here. I almost forgot about it...wasnt originally gonna post it because i thought it was a little too weird..

Random Fact: This chapter got the award for "least amount of typos" XD.


	3. Escape

"Anything?" Mahad asked the Vector as he got off the radio.

"Yes, something quite interesting..apprently there's rumours about something called "the sunshine project" or something like that being conducted on the monolith.."

"Sunshine project?" Mahad asked "what the hells that?"

"I'm not sure...its just rumours, but it apparently involves fiddling with genetics, something to do with the saijin gene..theres been a whole spate of kidnapping recently, my guess is Oslo wants guinea pigs for his project.."

"And he took Cortes...for that?" Lena asked, going pale. The thought of anyone hurt poor Cortes was unthinkable.

"So they're kidnapping innocent people to try MAKE them into saijins?! what's the chance of it working?" Wayan butted in.

The Vector shook his head "I don't know. If it does work, the strength of the power could be huge...but if it fails...there could be irreparable damage.."

"Then we have to find the monolith!" Mahad said, getting up. "We got to get Cortes out of their hands!"

"It's all very well saying that. But how? At least wed need a sphere ship to even attempt sneaking on.."

"Then lets go get us one!" Lena said, hopping off her chair and heading for the door, "we need to be fast!"

* * *

"Its about time to begin training the wretched pirate," Oslo remarked, looking at the clock. Smirking he sent di-wan to fetch the pirate. He was to be taken to one of the labs testing rooms, where he'd be put through a series of tests any saijin should be able to do. And if he didn't do as he was told, he knew what'd happen..

"Moe it you!" di-wan snapped at Sirus, who was stood outside the door again. He looked blankly at her,

"and why do I need to?" he asked.

She glared and barged past him "commander Oslo's orders, the pirate is to undergo the starter training right now."

Cortes was dragged rudely awake, then hauled out of his room, Sirus in tow. He was escorted through a load of corridors, until they came to a test lab. There he was connected to a half dozen monitor machines, and bombarded with instructions. Do this, move that. It seemed unending. He began to feel sick..

"Onto test 19, move the-" but Cortes didn't hear it. His head was aching too much. He glared at the machines surrounding him, and felt a surge of anger....

Looking down at the hands he seen the familiar aura building, if he could just keep hold of it long enough...

"I have had. ENOUGH!" he snarled at last, tearing free from the equipment. The aura was much brighter now, as the charge built. He glared at the machines, and directed the amassed power in their general direction. It was stronger then he'd expected, as there was a mass explosion, the whole lot detonating in a bright flare.

He surveyed the wreckage as the smoke faded. Oddly that hadn't drained him as much as he'd thought.

The doctors stared, gawping at this sudden display. Cortes turned, glaring right at them. The blue glow was still there. He began walking towards the glass panel separating them.

--Humph...not bad for a first attempt...its worth testing him..-- di-wan thought. She went through the door separating them.

Cortes turned to face her. Odd thing about him was he never spoke, just glared coldly at her.

Without warning she fired at him, surprised as he ducked and moved to the side, before amassing a blast of power himself. She dodge it easily, but got a surprise at how easily he was managing. Evidently the powers were growing at a geometric rate.

A blast hit him full on in the stomach and he at last collapsed to the floor.

"Not bad. Maybe you're not a waste of time." she sneered "maybe Oslo wont have to hurt you again. Just do as your told..."

With that she left, and Cortes let himself sink back to the floor. How the hell had he done that? Was that business of the gene injection actually working? He felt his stomach sinking.

At least this meant Oslo probably wouldn't kill him...but it also meant having to be a part of the sphere if he ever wanted to see the outside world again, to escape he would have to play along, even though the thought sickened him. He was being forced into becoming the thing he hated, despised the most..

What was left to hold on to? This was Oslo's little plan it would seem....

It took a second to realise he'd been curled on the floor for a while now. Wincing he pulled himself to his feet, staggering out the door. None of the lab worked tried to stop him, most were too busy hiding behind the table.

* * *

Oslo looked up as di-wan stalked into his office, "how did it go?"

She raised one eyebrow "our little test subject got pissy and managed to blow up the equipment in one go. He appears to have demonstrated a fair enough understanding of his powers, and scared the lab techs shitless."

"So its developing faster then anticipated...we may be able to use him earlier then expected.."

"He has little clue on how to fight."

"Well perhaps he should go on a little trip. There's been reports of pirates attacking a water carrier a little way from here, take the brigs and drag that idiot along with you. He might as well learn now what i created him for..."

Di-wan smirked, any chance to cause severe injury to any rebel was a good thing. And that rebel leader being forced to watch, that was priceless!

* * *

He was halfway back to his room when di-wan and a squad of brigs showed up, and he was told of Oslo's orders. He made to object, the was reminded of Oslo's last warning to behave. And clammed up, but still pissed off.

The patrollers tore through the sky, heading for where an alarm was going off. a water carrier in distress...

Cortes had been staring at the floor to avoid looking at the main view screen in the cockpit. Then he heard shots, and the roar of a familiar engine.

Looking up he felt a stab of pain as he seen a familiar large ship swoop round, and release the little mosquitoes from its belly.

It was his own ship, the st. nazaire.

The ship rocked as the mosquitoes fired. di-wan swore.

Cortes smirked, he knew his own ship better then anyone, and she was a tough old thing. He seen more mosquitoes swooping in towards them and panicked. He'd never been on the receiving end of his own crafts firepower before, but he knew it wasn't exactly a pushover.

He grabbed for the controls, startling di-wan, and wrenched the craft round, doing a demented loop-the-loop to escape being hit.

Di-wan felt about to barf "what're you playing at you imbecile!" she yelled.

Cortes, seeing the other brings ships had been shot down by the mosquitoes, and then the Hyperion, he knew they'd be in deep shit. And like hell he was gonna die at his own crews hands.

He turned the craft round, and fired the engines, tearing away in the opposite direction, pulling a few more aerial stunts to avoid the Hyperion's shots. At last they managed to loose the craft in the clouds . He sighed, close call.

"Commander Oslo is going to KILL you when he hears about this!" di-wan fumed, slamming him up against the bulkhead by his throat.

Cortes snickered "and what about when i tell him we were the only ones that got out alive thanks to me?" he smirked "that's MY ship, i know it works. i know its crew, its strength...we'dve made nice mincemeat if they'd caught us! they destroyed the other patrollers!"

Di-wan glared, then dropped him to the floor. "how cute, if only your crew knew what you are now, i don't think they'd hold off firing!"

Cortes snapped "that's rich coming from someone who wouldn't even know how to spell "diversity" even it dance in front of wearing a tea cosy!"

The next second a shot hit him in the shoulder, slamming him to the crafts metal floor.

"Its not too late for the commander to kill you, you know, so shut your mouth. Or do you want him to mop the floor with you again? You don't need to have a brain cell to know what he did to you. And it seems you fancy a second punishment.." she laughed coldly.

Cortes slumped against the bulkhead. He felt about to throw up, but he didn't care. He'd gotten to see his ship one more time, and gotten them away knowing the saint nazaire had successfully nabbed the water carrier. --Sorry Oslo, but your not destroying me or my ship that easily. you'll live to regret your decision to use ME as a guinea pig!--

Di-wan noticed the guy was...smirking? what was with him? Clearly Oslo hadn't managed to make him into a good little lackey. The pirate was clearly stronger then he looked. Impressive, but that would soon be dealt with.

* * *

Mahad sighed as he and Lena flew back to the nazaire in the Hyperion. The last s-22 had gotten away, through the use of some very odd air acrobatics. Most patrollers did NOT fly like that..

"What sort of manoeuvres?" the Vector asked.

"The sort of ones Mahad would pull!" Lena said.

The Vector frowned, "it does seem a little odd, not to mention dangerous. Cortes tried that once in an old sphere ship, narrowly avoiding pole-axing a block, h was lucky he didn't kill himself...what?" Lena and Mahad were staring at him. "was it something i said?"

"Lena, didn't you say you sensed something kind of...familiar amongst those patrollers?" Mahad squeaked.

She nodded, eyes wide "yes! i sensed saijin powers, one or more epople..but i felt like...id met it before.."

"What're you two talking about?" Vector asked.

Lena took a deep breath "i think...Cortes might've been in that patroller that escaped. You said yourself he's pulled stunts like that before, and it would explain the familiarity thing.."

"But what about the saijin power you sensed?" Mahad asked.

Show frowned "well, it didn't feel like anyone ive met before...yet at the same time i knew them somehow..." she sighed "it doesn't make sense. Why would Cortes be aboard a sphere vessel?"

"I doubt he had a choice..." Wayan interrupted "if Oslo kidnapped him to use in that project Vector mentioned. Its possible he may have already been through it. It sounds like it might have worked too, if you sensed a new power..."

Everyone fell silent. Oslo had kidnapped Cortes, used him in some dangerous experiment and probably threatened him into working for him. That explained why that patroller had acted so weird...

"..he must've been actively trying to wrench the ship away from whoever was controlling it..." Mahad said at last. "He doesn't WANT to go against us.."

"...he just doesn't have a choice..." Lena said at last.

"we've GOTTA GET HIM BACK!" cheng cried, Dahlia nodded, looking mad.

"No way is Oslo getting away with this, using Cortes like a pawn..."

* * *

True to form, di-wan told Oslo of the pirates little smart-ass manoeuvre, then the smart-mouthing.

Over hearing oslo telling di-wan he 'deal' with Cortes, Sirus went off and fetched more supplies. Clean clothes, water, medical supplies, anything he thought might help. He felt bad for poor Cortes, and he was REALLY beginning to get fed up with his masters mistreatment of the saijin-human.

--I've got to get him outta here...this is wrong...--

* * *

"Hmph..hes proving tougher to break then i thought.." oslo growled. Di-wan shook her head.

"Its not worth your time oslo, he's a little ingrate, what more can you expect from a pirate? just get rid of him"

"I'm not letting him off that easy, killing him would make it pointless. I want him to suffer, that's the whole point. I want to see any resistance die, he'll be a pawn of the sphere one way or another!"

* * *

Once he was sure oslo had gone, Sirus unlocked the door to Cortes room, and careful re-locked it behind him.

Cortes was lying slumped across the bed, shivering. He looked worse the the last time Sirus had seen him.

he sat on the beds edge and gently stroked a hand through his hair. "I'm sorry. I couldn't risk interfering, or he'd kill us both.."

Cortes jus hiccupped miserably.

--Poor thing. This cant go on...he's been in near constant pain since day one..-- He sighed and contained petting the humans soft hair.

"I know it sounds awful...but the only thing i can think of is...stop giving g him reason to hurt you. Perhaps if you pretend to listen, go along with what he says...he'll lay off you.."

"You want me act like a part of this nightmare?! are you insane?" Cortes glared up at him, "id rather he killed me, he's already gotten about halfway..."

"You want to go back to your people don't you?" Sirus asked gently.

"Well of course i do!" Cortes snapped.

The robot sighed "the only chance you have is hijacking a craft, and to that, you'd have to fool oslo into trusting you enough to let you on one...see what i mean?"

Cortes was silent, he could see the sense in that one..

But the mere thought of sucking up to oslo made him want to barf. repeatedly. It was also enough to put him off his food.

Hr heard a sigh, and blinked, turning his head to get a proper look at the blonde robot sitting beside him on the bed. The mechanical being was staring off into the distance, a wistful, almost sad expression on his face.

"You want to escape don't you....?" he said at last. The robot blinked, snapping out of his trance.

"Eh? what.. he sighed resignedly, closing his eyes "i have done a great deal of research on you people, and to be truthful. I would rather be anywhere but here. All Oslo ever does is torment people, i have seen him hurt so many of your kind, kidnapping saijins to force into work. And then when that proved tricky, he started this whole project..."

He looked up at the ceiling "when i was initially started up, i was told i was created to do as i was told and nothing more. At first i sided with masters plans, then i got the opportunity to talk to the people he captured. The world they taught me about was a far cry from what master had been showing me...i soon came to realise he was just a sick twisted man. But i can do little to stop him by myhself..thats why.." he looked down at Cortes, "i want to help you get away from here. I want to go with you.."

Cortes blinked, then chuckled softly. "There's something i never thought id here, someone willing to screw oslo over..." he gave a wry smile "what've we got to lose eh?"

He sat himself up at this point. And got a sneak hug from the suddenly cheerful angel.

"Gwah! Alright!" he squeaked, turning red, "i get it, you're happy!"

Sirus smiled at him, and Cortes went even redder. God the robot was clueless.

* * *

"We ready to go?" Mahad said impatiently. Vector nodded

"That we are my boy, the ships fixed and ready to go!"

"Finally, we can go get our captain back!" Dahlia cheered, "lets roll!"

A few days later, Mahad, Lena, Wayan and Vector, along with some troops from puerto angel, all piled onto the ship they'd stolen from the sphere. The st. nazaire was to follow behind.

* * *

During that time Cortes had seemingly given up fighting Oslo's ideals. He went through the motions of doing the training, even successfully knocking di-wan flat on her ass during a fight session.

"Hmph..not bad." she smirked as she got to her feet "given up trying to fool yourself into believing you'll ever see your ship again?"

Cortes just cast her a blank glance. He avoided speaking, preferring to retain his sullen attitude.

Bit by bit he was learning to control the abilities he'd been forced to accept. It would be a vital part of his plan if he ever wanted to escape. That was all that kept him from snapping and trying to kill oslo.

Oslo rarely spoke to him thankfully, he left his handling in di-wans hands. Even she was beginning to be convinced Cortes had learnt his lesson from the last punishment. He no longer reacted when pirates were mentioned.

Cortes marvelled at Sirus' ability to still act like the good little servant around oslo. He was cold and emotionless, but sometimes sarcastic to di-wan. Oslo frequently assigned him as a guard to Cortes, as he still didn't trust the human-saijin.

Sirus did what he could for Cortes, giving him any new info on the rebels, and in return he asked Cortes to tell him about life in his home block. He seemed fascinated b y the sound of puerto angel.

He was careful not to act friendly whenever there was anyone around, and Cortes knew why. If oslo twigged his little lackey was preparing to do a bunk, he'd been pissed.

The morning of the attack, Cortes was standing in a corridor on the monolith, idly messing with a brig. By focusing his energy into the telekinesis ability, he was able to lift up a brig. And flip the thing upside down in mid-air.

"Error....malfunction, gravity incorrect!" the brig wailed. Cortes snickered.

"You get some sort of perverse fun out of that don't you, pirate?" a voice said. He looked over his shoulder and smirked coldly at di-wan.

"I'm bored. What's the point of having these....powers.." he flipped the brig right way up and set it on its feet, "if im stuck in here all day? hm?" he walked past her, past the sentry brigs. Those things bugged him, the urge to fry their circuits would never fade.

"Commander oslo doesn't trust you, you'd just go scuttling right back to your pirate friends you idiot."

"Then why'd he kidnap a pirate if he didn't want one?" Cortes sneered "besides, i don't care. Far as im concerned, my own survival is more important then choosing sides. I'm not going to get myself killed just for a few fond memories.." a cold shrug "i care about my own life, they sure didn't, so what else do i have to concern myself with?" that said he walked off.

Di-wan raised an eyebrow. The pirate was obviously resentful his crew hadn't bothered to rescue him, and now considered them enemies.

Maybe it was about time he was let loose, see how revenge he'd get on his own crew...

* * *

"Oh really? Well perhaps it IS time we tested him, since he seems to have seen the error of his ways. If he believes his own crew are against him now, its perfect bait!"

There was a muffle boom, and a distress alarm went off.

"Commander! were under attack! one of the water carriers was a trap!"

"What? it must be that damn pirates crew again, assembled the brigs, and bring that guy with you, i want to watch him attack his own lot!"

------------------------------

Sirus was just telling Cortes the latest information he'd gotten of oslo when the alarm call went off, and he was radioed by di-wan ordering him to bring Cortes to the landing bay, where they'd been sneak attacked by pirates.

Cortes felt his heart leap at the thought. His crew again? He hoped so..

"This could be our chance..." he whispered to Sirus, "stick close. I know how they fight!"

Sirus could only nod, the thought of escaping foremost in his mind.

Di wan met them halfway there, and told Sirus he was to keep an eye on Cortes.

Cortes merely smirked "au contraire, if its a pirate ship...i know how to blow it up!" he smirked cruelly "you forget i have...prior knowledge...of these people.."

Di-wan raised an eyebrow at the harsh tone of voice "ill leave it to you to stop that ship ever leaving!"

"Of course" Cortes answered, while thinking; --sucker!--

They emerged on one of the landing gantries, down below a fire fight seemed to be raging. Leaning over the edge Cortes could see a few familiar faces...

He'd grabbed a coat from a locker room before arrival, and he now pulled the hood up over his face, and motioned to Sirus.

"Lets go! Make it look like an infiltration move!"

* * *

They deliberately chose a spot where it would be pretty damn difficult for di-wan to keep an eye on them. Cortes crept between the ships, looking for a way to sneak aboard the water carrier they'd used as a disguise. Most like the saint nazaire wouldn't be far behind. Sure enough, he heard the familiar cry of her engines, and he elbowed Sirus, pointing at it.

"that's your ship?" the angel whispered, amazed, "its so pretty!"

Cortes just smiled. Seeing his ship made some of the pain fade..

He spotted Mahad and Lena sneaking off down a c arroidor, no doubt looking for info on their mother. he radioed di-wan saying he'd spotted intruders that'd slipped past brig forces, and he was going to hunt them down. Di-wan agreed, by now convinced by Cortes acting that he no longer cared about the rebel cause.

She figured since Oslo's aide was following him around, he wouldn't be any threat. Sirus'd shoot him on sight if he tried anything, he'd assured her. The angel might be annoying, but at least robots couldn't mutiny.

That's what SHE thought...

* * *

"This way Lena! The info we got says it shouldn't be far from here!" Mahad whispered as they snuck along. But he needn't have bothered being quiet, a whole crowd of brigs came marching round the corner. They turned and ran though a door into a warehouse like room. Bad idea, brigs in here too. They were cornered.

"Lena! quick, do something!" Mahad squeaked.

Lena shook her head "i cant destroy all of them! there's too many!" the brigs raised their arm cannons, ready to fire...

A blue bolt flew out of nowhere and smashed into the ground in front of the first row of brigs, knocking them back.

"Quick Lena, now!" a voice called that she was sure she knew.

She summoned up as much energy as she could, and directed it at the wave behind them. In no time, all the brigs lay broken and frazzled..

"Alright, show yourself! Who are you, coward!"

"Now that's not a nice way to talk to your superiors Mahad!"

Mahad whipped round, seeing two figures standing atop a pile of crates. One was what appeared to a blonde robot-creature with wings, and the other had a cloaked hood pulled over his face.

"Who are you, how do you know us?" Mahad persisted. The cloaked figure shook his head and commented to the blonde next to him,

"Told you he was dense! Who d'ya think it is, idiot boy?"

Mahad gaped, only one person called him that...

"No way.." he squeaked.

Cortes sniggered and flung the coat-cloak off, shaking his head.

"You're as thick as twenty two short planks Mahad!"

"Cortes!!" both kids shouted joyfully. Cortes smiled and jumped down from the crates.

"You're alright?" Lena asked. He nodded, but he looked a little shifty.

"Yeah, i think so. Lets just get a move on! Its too dangerous for you two to be here!"

"Who're you?" Mahad demanded, pointing at Sirus.

"Mahad don't be rude, and ill explain later, he's coming with us."

Mahad didn't argue, he and Lena followed Cortes back out the door.

But partway towards safety, they ran into di-wan.

"I should've known, pirate. You may have fooled oslo, but i knew you weren't really going to attack them!"

Cortes shook his head and sighed "oh come on, you didn't think any amount of gene twiddling was gonna make me listen to a word you say did you?"

he shrugged "sorry to disappoint you, but you cant erase what a person is that easily!"

She growled and fired a huge blast at him. He raised one hand, swiping it right back at her, with a good kick to it. It winded her, knocking her sideways into the wall.

Mahad gaped. Lena was staring at him in total amazement.

"You..bastard..." di-wan snarled.

"pfft, i coulda told you that!" Cortes snickered.

She fire another b last, and this time Lena joined in, so both she and Cortes hit di-wan with a double-whammy. While she lay recovering from the shock attack, they cleared off. Mahad soon discovered why Sirus came in handy. He was pretty. damn. strong.

Your average person couldn't tear a brigs limps off with their bare hands, this guy could. It was scary how he could just punch a hole in one without feeling anything..

They fought their way to the landing gantry again. Cortes spotted the cruising close to where they stood. If her could use these damn saijin powers to fly..

"Lets make a jump for it!" Lena yelled seeing more brigs "there's too many of them!"

"But-" Mahad objected. Sirus grabbed hold of him and Lena and launched off the gantry, the wide metal wings able to bear the weight. Cortes took a running leap, barely managed to slow himself down in time so he didn't break any bones when he hit the front deck.

"Whoa that was AWESOME!" Mahad grinned, looking at Sirus admiringly.

"Who are you?" Lena asked.

"I...WAS Oslo's aide, my names Sirus.."

"How come you ditched..?" Mahad asked.

"Because i realised what he truly was a total bas-" Cortes whapped him upside the head.

"No cursing you!" he snickered.

Their laughter was interrupted by the sounds of a half-dozen weapons loading behind them.

"Drop any weapons and turn around, or we'll open fire.."

"Do, and you'll have my foot six inches up your ass!" Cortes retorted, turning to face them. All their jaws dropped.

"Ca..captain?!" Wayan gawped at him, was it really Cortes. He looked the same, albeit he was dressed in a sphere uniform.

"Who d'ya think i am? Santa?" he answered, "wakey wakey Wayan!"

Wayan walked over to the group, and greeted his captain with the proper respect. "Its good to have you back sir. But how. And who's he?" he pointed at Sirus, who merely blinked gormlessly.

"Its a long story wayan..and quite frankly im starving...food first, then explanations..."

* * *

WHEE! sorry...too much cola.

Random Fact: I cant seem to outstare my cat. He always wins.


	4. Reluctance

The rest of the crew were ecstatic to see Cortes back again. First thing he did was get the hell outta that sphere uniform. Vector offered to give him a check-up, but Cortes refused, he seemed panicky. He didn't want anyone seeing the bruises and lacerations from Oslo's attacks on him. He changed back into his familiar, beloved uniform. He'd forgotten how comfortable it was.

Then it was time to give his crew the whole story. He didn't particularly want to tell them the whole tale. He told what he could, leaving out Oslo's assaults, and the fact that he had certain abilities now. Sirus gave them the full info on the gene project, he'd been privy to nearly the whole thing after all.

"So then...that's why he nabbed you?" dahlia asked at last "to see if his little experiment would work..?" she trailed off, gawping as the laser bazooka resting against the wall suddenly lifted up and flipped in mid-air. They all glanced at Cortes, who was staring into space, idly motion the object.

"Captain!" Wayan said sharply, to get his attention. Cortes jumped, dropping the weapon.

"What, sorry?!" he squeaked. "I cant help it.."

"Amazing..." Vector said, peering closely at Cortes "its manifested in such a short time.."

"Believe me I didn't ask it to!" Cortes suddenly snapped. They all looked at him in surprise. He glared at his hands, "you didn't seriously think I WANTED a part of any of that do YOU?!" he glared at them all then turned and storm out of the room.

Vector sighed "hoo boy. He is NOT a happy bunny is he?"

Lena shook her head "I cant blame him. To be put through what it must've taken to create that kind of ability...it must've hurt. The sphere probably told him he'd never see anyone he knew ever again.."

Sirus sighed "Oslo put him through hell trying to create a lab-grown lackey. He did everything short of killing Cortes...he was put through more pain then any human would see in a lifetime. Oslo wanted to break him that badly.."

Vector sighed "well I did ask if he had any injuries, but he went nuts, and yelled at me to leave him alone.."

Sirus winced "yeeaah...there's a reason to that. But its not my place to tell you.."

Vector sighed, "I bet a can guess, he seems to be in considerable pain standing on his feet, he wont let anyone near him suddenly..oh dear.."

"What?" dahlia asked "what'd he do to him?"

Wayan went pale, "I think I can guess...good god, poor Cortes..."

Vector moved closer and asked Sirus if his suspicions were correct...

* * *

Back in his bedroom, Cortes threw himself onto the bed. Somehow coming home didn't feel like he'd thought. What he'd become, what he'd done. It haunted him still. Not to mention the memories of what had been done to him..

Someone knocked on the door.

"Cortes? its me, Vector. I need to talk to you.."

Cortes sat up on the bed. "...fine.."

The old man looked concerned as he shut the door behind him. "Captain...I know about your injuries.."

Cores growled "that idiot robot told you didn't he?!"

"He only confirmed it, I guessed it pretty well from the way you acted..." he sighed "I just need you to tell me, so I can call the hospital.."

"what more confirmation, the sicko raped me alright, repeatedly! WHAT MORE DO YOU PEOPLE WANT?!" his heads pounded, and out of frustration he fired a blast at the far wall. It left a smoking dent.

Vector eyes were on stalks "holy crap, captain..."

Cortes breathing was heavy, he looked pale "please, Vector...I don't need checking over. I just want to forget it ever happened.."

"But captain. I must ask you to reconsider. There's not just the physical damage, but the psychological after-effect of letting this go untreated, you should at least see a counsellor-"

"I SAID NO! Nobody is to know, nobody is to find out." Cortes shook his head "I'm sorry Vector, but I wont..please, just leave me be for now.."

Vector sighed, but nodded. He patted Cortes shoulder gently as he made to leave;

"Nobody here's persecuting you, to us you haven't changed, it just means Lena has someone to talk to about being a saijin. She wants to talk to you once your feeling better..."

--When will I feel 'better' though Vector?-- Cortes wondered morosely. Getting up he went to the cabinet in the corner of his room. From it he pulled a glass bottle filled with a clear liquid. He'd found it on a block a month prior. The label said "vodka" which was a rare type of alcohol. He'd never gotten completely pissed before, right now seemed like a damn good start...

* * *

After 45 minutes, Wayan decided to go check on Cortes, see if the captain was feeling any better.

He knocked on the cabin door, and heard a muffled assent to enter. As he entered, the door clicking shut behind him, he seen Cortes standing by the far end of the room. He raised what looked like a glass of water and drank the lot in one go. Then he turned to glare at the intruder.

"Whadya want?" he complained, then hiccupped.

Wayan stared at him. His face was flushed, he looked...upset? unstable?

"Captain? are you alright?" he asked tentatively.

Cortes slammed the glass down on the table and glared "what're ya implyin' eh?"

"Nothing.." Wayan answered warily, then spotted the captain reaching for a bottle. He quickly snagged it out of his reach, sniffed it, it had an odd smell. he tried some. And pulled a face.

"Yeuch, captain..this is pure vodka..have you.." he noticed the bottle was almost 2/3 empty, "..been drinking this..hoo boy."

"gimme that!" Cortes objected, making a grab for it. Wayan stepped back out of reach, "I think you've had enough captain. Any more and you'll be sick.."

"Since when'd tha matter?" Cortes grumped, glaring blearily at a potted fern.

"Uh..captain..im over here.." Wayan mentioned.

"Don't contradict me!" Cortes snapped, and the second fern next to it.

Wayan shook his head. the Captain obviously had a VERY low booze tolerance.

"I'll be right back.." he said at last. Cortes was too busy arguing with the fern to notice.

* * *

Everyone looked up as he re-entered.

"How's he doing?" Lena asked.

Wayan had to try not to laugh, "he's completely, utterly..drrunk."

"Drunk? off what?" Mahad asked. Wayan showed him the vodka bottle.

"He had this stashed in his office. He must've laid into it after Vector last spoke to him.."

"Just how drunk is he?" Sirus asked.

"He was arguing with the potted ferns when I left him, that's how DRUNK he is.."

Everyone that didn't snigger groaned.

"That idiot.." Vector sighed "he's not coping well with this at all.." he turned to Sirus "you've been the only person that's helped him lately, maybe he'll listen to you. He obviously thinks we don't trust him since he was stuck with the sphere for so long..."

Sirus sighed "well, ill try..." he left for Cortes room.

* * *

The captain was still in a foul mood when the angel entered. He turned to glare at him.

"Whaddya want? come to screw me over have ye?" he laughed coldly at his own joke.

"I'm not going to hurt you. I promised." Sirus answered calmly.

"Bah, you're so full of it aren't you ::hic:: you don't know what its like to have your own emotions go outta control..."

"Actually I do.." Sirus stepped up close and grabbed his shoulders, looking gently at him, "I don't ever want to let you go...being around YOU is driving me mad. I want to make you feel better, but I'm afraid of upsetting you..."

Cortes blinked, looking up at him, sobered somewhat by this statement.

"wha..whaddya mean?" he asked at last.

"I mean. I don't want to see you sad. I want you to be happy..."

Cortes looked at him, then shook his head, expression turning cold "why the hell should I believe that? You're capable of lying, we both know that. Your master probably trained you to tell people whatever will make them do as you want quickest!"

Sirus sighed, the captain really WAS too drunk to be reasoned with.

"You need rest. you've been through so much this last week or so...go to sleep.."

Cortes shook his head, pacing around the room "nonono, I don't wanna sleep, I don't even know if I wanna go home..people're gonna take one look at me an' see a traitor, even if it washnt my fault.." He looked out the window "I might as well fashe it, im screwed...pff.. he snickered, "seem to have a recurring problem with tha' don't I?"

Sirus could only sigh "please Cortes...don't do this to yourself, nobody here thinks that. They put together that whole plan just to rescue you, nothing else! Trust me...I've never tried to hurt you. Have I?"

Cortes sighed. He was right, but why did he care about him so much?

Sirus patted his shoulder gently "why did you drink so much of that alchahol stuff?"

Cortes shrugged sulkily "I wanted to pretend none of this crap ever happened, that I wash fine, jus for a while anyways..."

He pulled up his sleeves, where bruise marks could still be seen, handprints from being held down.

"Its not gonna leave me is it? NO matter how much I drink, I'll still remember!!" He grabbed the glass in hands. Because of the force of his grip, it shattered, cutting deeply into his hands.

"Oh SHIT! Sirus panicked, grabbing his hands "hold still I'll remove them-"

Cortes pulled away, shaking his head "not...not until..you tell me, why you're bothering with all this? Did Vector make ya? Cos I wont go to the doctor?" he looked at him, baffled "or ish it somethin' else...or maybe you just wanna use me for sex..like your fucking master!" this drunken rant ended on a sniffley note..

Seeing him in such a state Sirus realised Cortes had been bottling up all the pain he'd been suffering through the whole ordeal. Now he was back on his own ship, it was finally sinking in.

"No, nobody told me to do anything.." Sirus spoke softly "I'm doing this because..well...getting away from Oslo wasn't the only reason I asked to come with you. I've been on my own since start-up, stuck in that cold, lonely ship. With people so spineless they don't care who gets hurt. When I seen you, the strength you fought with, I wanted to stay around you. When I seen how much he was hurting you, I wanted to kill him." He was standing right in front of Cortes now. he reached out and gently brushed a hand across his cheek, Cortes flinched at first, then as he repeated the action, he seemed to relax, closing his eyes and calming down somewhat.

"See...I'm not going to hurt you....I wont." he gently brushed a hand through Cortes' hair.

"Why-?" Cortes asked, and the angel kissed him on the cheek gently.

"That's why" he said softly "I don't understand about it entirely. But I know I just want you, and only you...id do anything to see you smile. Just tell me and I'll do it.."

Cortes went red, he blinked up at the angel. Was this guy for real? Of all the people Oslo had caught, he'd fallen for HIM? he couldn't believe it...but he wanted to. After enduring what felt like a lifetime of cruelty, he found he wanted the kindness and attention more then anything. He wanted to know someone existed that wouldn't give up on him because of what happened...

He felt arms wrap around him, and he let himself relax. The warmth of having someone that close felt comforting...

"Will you let me take care of your hands? you're still bleeding.." Sirus said at last. Cortes just nodded, and let himself be led to the bathroom, where the angel cleaned and bandaged the cuts, removing all the shards of glass very carefully.

While he was tying up the bandages, Cortes began to feel sleepy. He leant against Sirus shoulder, closing his eyes.

Sirus smiled, looking at the human. It must've taken a supreme effort to do that. To let his guard down around him, he must trust him.

--I wont let you down, my precious Cortes...I've really fallen in love with you, I don't want to ever have to say goodbye..--

he picked the human up, and carried him to bed. He tucked him up in the blankets, and sat by his bed until the dawn light crept in.

* * *

Cortes was shifting about, moaning in his sleep, he sounded afraid. He bolted upright, crying out in fright.

"Cortes. what's wrong?" Sirus asked gently.

Cortes, feeling slightly sick and shaky, blinked at the angel, trying to remember through a hangover haze, just who he was. Then he recalled the previous few hours, what he'd done, he'd said...he groaned.

"Cortes?" Sirus asked, sitting on the bed, and putting his arms around him "what's wrong?"

"I...I'm sorry...I was acting like...a total asshole to you...to everyone..." Cortes said at last.

Sirus kissed his forehead gently "its alright...you've had a rough time, you're entitled to act that way.." he stroked the humans hair "don't fret about it, everyone understands,..they're all worried about you.."

Cortes thought about it. And about how this guy was so close..yet he didn't feel threatened or uneasy. The angel had been nice to him, helped him escape, bandaged him up when he'd hurt himself. He'd been the only person on the sphere ship he'd been able to trust. and now the angel seemed to never want to leave him. And, Cortes realised, he didn't want him to go either..

---What does this mean? I'm falling for someone who's so human its scary...and a guy?! Is this really a smart idea?--

"what's wrong?" Sirus asked, nuzzling his hair gently, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. Cortes squeaked and collapsed against him. That was a particular weak spot with him..

Sirus laughed at the reaction, seeing Cortes about to laugh he did it again.

"Gywah!" Cortes laughed at last "that tickles damnit!"

"Heh, I got you to smile~ I'll remember this one~" Sirus grinned. Cortes glared "if you even THINK about doing that in public ill smack you."

"Duly noted.." the angel smiled, nuzzling his nose. Cortes blushed.

"hm.." Sirus seemed to pause for a moment, then he closed the small gap between them and kissed Cortes gently.

Cortes panicked initially, as h had done the previous time, then realised this guy didn't want to hurt him. It was a hard habit to shift since the assault, but he hoped he could. He relaxed and happily let the other kiss him again.

After a few seconds he pulled away from the blushing captain, "you look adorable when you smile.."Sirus said gently, nuzzling his nose again.

Cortes smiled, and he actually felt a little better. Sirus had proved he wasn't out to use Cortes like Oslo had, but that he really cared about him. He wanted to make him happy, was that what he'd said?

"I think were at your home.." Sirus said, looking out the window. All he could see was docking equipment.

"urf.." Cortes stomach gave a particularly unpleasant jerk and he dashed for the loo. Several minutes later he staggered out. He looked as white as a sheet.

"Don't feel too good...and before you rub it in, I know its my own fault for getting pissed!"

Sirus patted his hair "you'll feel better....you just need food and some fresh air..."

Cortes sighed. He still had to face up to fact; he wasn't normal anymore. Thanks to Oslo...he'd become a saijin, he'd been through hell while this power was forced upon him...

With a sigh he walked onto the main bridge. Wayan looked over at him.

"You look like hell sir.." he said calmly. Cortes glared at him "gee thanks Wayan..." he grumbled, almost stumbling as he went to find Mahad and Lena.

They were sitting with cheng up the far end.

Cheng jumped up and tackle-hugged him by way of greeting.

"Got bored talking to pot plants did ya Cortes?" Mahad asked. Cortes gave him a very rude gesture as he sat down.

"Conversation a little "wooden" eh? since their trees-OW!"

Cortes had glared at him, then with a flick of his hand, the comic book Mahad was holding rolled itself up and whapped him on the head.

Lena giggled watching them.

"Hey! no fair!" Mahad complained, as it bounced off his head again. Cortes snickered "I think it has its uses.." he said softly.

"Is it easy to control?" Lena asked at last. Cortes seemed to realise he was enjoying his newfound ability and quickly relinquished the object, dropping it on Mahad's head again.

"uh.." he shrugged, suddenly feeling uncomfortable again. "its annoying.." he said at last.

Lena blinked, noticing the sudden change in personality. It seemed as if he hated himself for enjoying the power he'd had forced on him.

Cortes sighed "I think its best I just ignore it..maybe it'll fade..." but by his voice they could tell he didn't believe that. He seemed utterly depressed by the whole incident.

"Cortes.." Lena said softly, trying to think how to cheer him up. But he shook his head "f-forget I mentioned it...its not important, it'll go away eventually...after all.." he got to his feet, "its only artificial, it'll break down eventually...right?" and he left.

Lena sighed "this is gonna be tricky....I don't think its gonna fade, he needs to learn to control it. Otherwise it'll only make him feel worse..."

Mahad shrugged "we cant begin to understand how he's feeling, Oslo practically tortured him, making him into that...now Cortes has to live with that, and he's probably afraid of what'll happen when the people of puerto angel find out.."

"Why would it make any difference?" Lena asked "he's still him.."

* * *

Cortes sighed as he walked off the ship, lagging behind everyone else. Sirus stopped and waited for him to catch up.

"Are you OK?" he asked softly. Cortes shook his head "no.." he stammered out at last, "how can I be? Sooner or later...people are going to find out.." his hands clenched tightly "and then its all over..DAMNIT!"

BLAM. A dent in the far wall. Cortes twitched, his breathing a little heavy. "Shit...I keep forgetting about those damn powers, every time I lose my temper I wreck the place..."

--The frustration is driving him nuts...he needs to accept it, try to move on...I know its hard. I wish I could help..--

Cortes followed them to the tavern, where it seemed Patrucci was complaining again.

"How do we know the saijin isn't dangerous! The sphere have been past here twice as often since SHE showed up!"

Cortes saw Lena flinch, a sadness creeping into her eyes.

He felt a surge of fury.

"Oi, you!" he snapped, getting his attention "what makes you think anybody gives a crap what YOU think?! hm?!"

Patrucci glared at him, "oh, it speaks! you're a pompous ass Cortes!"

"Shut up!" Lena yelled at him "you're the jerk around here!"

Patrucci made a grab for her, and Cortes lost it. A backhanded slap and Patrucci was knocked flying across the bar.

People gaped, not just because of the captains strength, but because of the blue aura. It faded as soon as it haded appeared, and Cortes stood between Lena and Patrucci's little gang.

"Anyone else fancy a try! Because ive just about HAD IT with you lot, all you do is whine, WELL NOBODY CARES, LET ALONE ME!"

People were gawping at him..

"He's...a..no way?!"

"Surely we would've seen it before..."

"The captains a saijin? How'd he keep it hidden for so long..."

Cortes could feel a headache kicking in. With a pissed growl he turned and stalked out.

Lena could only stare after him. he hadn't wanted anyone to know...yet he'd blown his cover to stop her getting hurt. She got the feeling the decision had been hard on him.

Sirus sighed, then ran after him. Cortes hadn't looked well...

* * *

In the bar people were whispering about the new info.

"People!" Mahad hopped up into a stool "lemme explain..."

10 minutes later..

"...and that's why Oslo took him, he wanted a guinea pig, and since he hates Cortes...he used him! This "sunlight gene" project thing...its designed to give ordinary people saijin abilities. Vector found out all about it! Cortes is still the same grouch he ever was, Oslo put him through all sorts of hell just to get his own back!"

Lena nodded "I can sense it, it hurt a lot to survive what Oslo did, so don't be mean!"

* * *

Cortes stormed back to his private room, slamming the door behind him. He was pissed off, at himself, at Oslo. At everything..

With a sigh he threw his uniform over a chair and ambled into the shower.

He sighed softly as the hot water cascaded over him. The heat seemed to chase away some of the pain, his head pounded painfully.

--Damnit,now everybody knows what I am---shit!!-- he punched the shower wall with one clenched fist, and sighed. He rested his forehead against the cool wall tiles, the sound of the water soothing to his fractured nerves. He didn't need to look to know the bruise marks were still there...they still hadn't faded away, it was like a constant torment...

The view of the shower floor seemed to blur as the pounding grew worse. He pushed away from the shower, making a grab for the curtain. But his mind had had enough, and he passed out. He grabbed hold of the curtain as the floor shot up to meet him...

* * *

Sirus sighed, he didn't know what to say to Cortes...providing he answered the door. He knew the captain was handling this whole thing badly, but he wasn't sure how comfort him...

He was just about to knock when he heard a muffled thump from somewhere within the room. Panicking he lock picked the door and ran in, slamming it behind him.

"CORTES?!" he called, then picked up on the sound of the shower running. He bolted into the bathroom and spotted who he was looking for..

The human-saijin had collapsed, and somehow gotten tangled in the dark blue shower curtain...

--Whaddda I do?!_ he panicked silently, then decided he should at least try waking him up..

* * *

My lap is dead....this laptop is fskin HEAVY.

Random Fact: The potted fern part? True story, i got utterly tanked once at my sisters 18th party, and spent a good ten minuites chatting up a potted plant before i realised. People STILL bring that one up...


	5. Nightmare

Pain, again. He blinked, someone was calling him. Blearily he opened his eyes, seeing someone crouching over him.

Then he remembered. He'd been taking a shower, everything went ka-bloey, wake up on floor again...wait...

He sat bolt upright, pulling the shower curtain tightly around him. His face was beet red.

"What're you doing in here?!" he yelled "get lost!"

Sirus sighed "you were out cold....i came to talk to you, and i heard a noise from inside the room. You wouldn't answer when i knocked so i came in.."

Cortes was still blushing bright red. He just stared at sirus like he was some sort of space alien, "and the fact i was taking a fskin shower didn't occur to you?!" he snapped, keeping said curtain around him as he stormed out of the bathroom.

Sirus waited a minute or two before sticking his head round the door. "can i come out now?" he asked.

Cortes, re-dressed, gave him another glare which seemed to say the obvious.

The angel sighed and sidled over to him. "I didn't mean to make you mad, i was worried about you.."

Cortes sighed "yeah well, in normal society its considered pretty embarrassing when a total stranger sees ya almost fricken naked!"

"Is it?....whoops." sirus said at last. Cortes looked at him, seen he couldn't keep a straight face, and whacked him upside the head.

"Goit. bet you didn't exactly mind..." he muttered, still blushing.

Sirus poked his cheek "if i say "no" will you get mad again?" he asked.

Cortes only went redder, but relaxed slightly as sirus put his arms around him.

The angel nuzzled the back of his neck, where he knew his weak spot was. A pleasant shiver ran up his back and he squeaked, leaning back against the angel.

"gah....you're just being annoying now!" Cortes grumbled, but he was smiling faintly.

"hm...your hair smells nice.." sirus remarked.

"That'd be shampoo genius.." Cortes grumbled. But he was relieved it was just sirus that had barged in, he didn't need any further humiliation that day.

"Anything else that's utterly pointless that you'd like to point out? he added sarcastically.

Sirus thought about it "you have a cute butt?" he added lightly.

Cortes elbowed him in the gut for that one, his face bright red.

Sirus was laughing fit to bust, which made Cortes try to strangle him. They lost their balance, and fell over into a heap on the floor.

Sirus blinked at Cortes, then took the opportunity to wrap his arms around him and kiss him. Cortes didn't hit him this time, if anything he didn't seem to mind..

When he reluctantly finished, he noticed cute Cortes looked a little down. "What's wrong love?" he asked. Cortes sighed, resting his had on the others shoulder.

"Should i really be here? I mean...by now everyone'll have realised I'm not who they think i am...it could get ugly...especially with patrucchi's group stirring things up.."

Sirus ran a hand through Cortes hair "don't fret about it...i doubt they'll kick you outta your job just because you got caught by Oslo...I'm pretty sure several other people are guilty of the same offence, you're not the first pirate he's gone after..."

Cortes sighed "yeah..i guess..." he closed his eyes, sighing wearily.

Sirus smiled and patted his head gently "don't worry love...right now you need rest..."

"Actually...i need a walk.." Cortes got up with a sigh.

Sirus followed him out the door, and gave him one last sneak hug before bolting. Cortes had looked about to clock him one, but he'd been smiling a little.

He sighed to himself as he walked along. That angel was a total goofball. But he made him feel better when he was around...as if the pain and misery never happened. But could he really fully trust a sphere robot, even if said robot did seem to be hopeless and oddly infatuated with HIM.

--Why me...because i gave him a way out of Oslo's hell? or because i finally showed him Oslo was a git? well, whatever the reason..i don't know what to do...i don't want him to leave...yet...I'm not sure i can really trust someone right now..--

* * *

Lena was on her way to the tavern when she seen Patrucci's little gang up ahead. She felt a stab of worry, those guys were mean, violent.

They were arguing about why should They have to put up with a second saijin in puerto angel, how saijins should be banished, to keep everyone else safe.

As if on cue, they spotted her trying to sneak away.

"After her!" one yelled, and Lena panicked, and took off as fast as she could. She tore round a corner, and rammed into someone. Looking up she seen it was Cortes.

"Lena? What's the matter?" he asked, seeing how scared she looked.

"They're chasing me! Those guys from before!"

Cortes heard footsteps approaching, and quickly ushered Lena behind him. Patrucchi and his little gang tore round the corner, an halted when they seen who was standing there.

"Well well, if it isn't the OTHER freak! bird of a feather..." one sneered. They advanced on the pair, who backed up.

"Lena...run..go get Wayan!" Cortes whispered. She nodded fearfully, then turned and ran as fast as she could.

"Hey! She's getting away!" Patrucchi yelled, but when he tried to run after her, Cortes punched him for a second time.

It soon dissolved into an all-out brawl, with Cortes struggling to beat back all 5 of them. Pretty soon he lost, an they all laid in...

* * *

"WAYAN!" Lena's tearful voice rang out as she tore into the tavern.

Wayan looked up from the bar, "what's wrong?" he asked. She grabbed his arm "its Cortes! Patrucchi and his lot were chasing me and Cortes is trying to stop them! COME ON!!"

She tugged him out of the tavern, back to where she'd left Cortes.

* * *

His head ached, in fact..his whole BODY ached.

He opened his eyes, he was staring at a white ceiling....

"urgh..." he groaned as he sat up. what had happened....?

"Cortes!" he heard a glad cry, and blinked just in time to see Lena tearing up to the bed.

Wayan followed behind her "how're you feeling captain?" he asked.

Cortes groaned "Like...I've been hit by an s-22..."

Lena frowned concernedly "you were badly hurt by the time we got there...why didn't you use your powers? You could've knocked them all flying..."

Cortes looked away, staring at the floor. "..." he just shrugged "i don't know." he said at last.

Lena closed her eyes, and decided to try telepathy --i know you're not happy with being given those powers...but you don't have to be miserable...Mahad explained what happened after you left...lots of people think its cool, now we have two saijins to defend puerto angel! Its just Patrucci's lot that're spreading all those mean feelings...don't listen to them...--

Cortes blinked at her, then sighed --i don't know..-- he somehow sent back --it just makes me furious that i ended up like this through no will of my own..that Oslo...used me as a guinea pig..i never wanted any of this...i just wanted to get my own life back...but i guess, not everyone's too pleased about me returning, after being with the sphere for so long...they probably think I'm a spy of some sort...--

Lena shook her head --Vector showed them the info we managed to steal from the ship while we were attacking, he proved you didn't have a choice...people have been asking about you since you left..and look. They gave us a whole bunch of cards to give to you when we told them what happened-- she held out a bundle of envelopes.

Cortes took them, and read through them. Lena was right. People were cursing Patrucchi for his small-minded discrimination, and hoping he'd be back at work soon.

One even said "The more the merrier!", looking at the bottom, he saw it was signed "Mahad and Lena".

He looked up at Lena who was beaming happily. --Thanks, the both of you...that really helps..--

--Just promise you wont let Patrucchi discourage you...you're still yourself, just with the added bonus of, as my brother puts it "ass-kicking ability".--

Cortes snickered at this last part --Typical Mahad...--he laughed.

Wayan had been watching them closely during this whole silent exchange, marvelling at how saijins could talk telepathically.

Cortes sighed, and at last spoke out loud "i guess...maybe this isn't a big a burden as i thought...it'd certainly save on ammo.."

Wayan laughed "that's true sir! Good to see your feeling better..."

Cortes smiled "yeah..why should i let people like THAT interfere with MY life..Patrucchi's a *bleeping* idiot!"

Both Lena and Wayan nodded enthusiastically to that.

"He's in lockup captain, and will be for a while.." Wayan assured him. Cortes looked relieved.

--If you need any help with your powers, ill help!-- Lena sent as she and Wayan left him to get some rest.

Cortes leaned back against the pillow, he felt a lot better, but still anxious. Even if other people still respected him after what he'd become, he still couldn't accept what he was now. The circumstances under which he gained such an ability still haunted him, it was just after the powers had manifested themselves that Oslo had...well..started screwing him to put it lightly.

Just the thought of that made a fresh wave of nausea well up. He hated Oslo, and he hated himself for being raped by that bastard...TWICE. --Why didn't I somehow push him off? Was i that afraid of using these powers that i couldn't even defend myself..or was it that i didn't want to die? He could've killed me if I fought back..was it a tie between my life and my pride?--

This thought still running around in his mind,he slowly drifted asleep...

* * *

Nightmares, more of them. He was reliving those memories he feared, pinned to the bed, while his hated enemy just...used him. Like he was little more than some piece of trash..wasn't that what Oslo had called him..?

"You cant get away, you're mine now...you haven't a hope in hell of beating ME" Oslo had leaned in close and smirked at Cortes panicked, angry expression "you're just a little SLUT."

"From one who knows!" Cortes had retorted at that time, at which Oslo had hit him so hard he'd spent a fair while drifting in and out of consciousness, all the while feeling what was being done to him..

--NO, please..i don't want to remember this...PLASE!-- he begged mentally, at the same time he felt someone's hand on his shoulder. He forced his eyes open, and seen a blurry figure in a white uniform leaning over him. In his muddled state, his mind told him it was the voice of his nightmares.

"GET AWAY FROM ME OSLO YOU BASTARD!" he yelled, using what little strength he had to push the person away from him. He fell off the bed and onto the floor, scrambling to his feet and back up, looking desperately around for a weapon...

The doctor he'd clobbered stared in shock at the patient. Vector, standing behind him, frowned. Clearly the time aboard the monolith had left Cortes with PTSD, or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. He'd reacted so violent to seeing someone in a white coat...

"Cortes...please..." he advanced towards the terrified captain, who looked right at him, as if he didn't know him.

"Stay away from me.." Cortes shook his head "I'm not letting you anywhere near me.."

"Cortes...you're in the hospital, this is puerto angel, not the monolith...its alright, you're safe here..."

Cortes seemed to snap out of it "vector...?" he said at last.

Vector smiled faintly, and nodded, walking towards him "that's right, you're home. Calm down, there's nobody here that can hurt you...Oslo's not here.."

But Cortes back away, and a shield barrier sprang up between them, not unlike the ones Lena could summon. He shook his head..his voice a shaken whisper..

"You don't understand vector...he did this to me for a reason...so even if i got away from him...id never be free from what happened...he knew, that's why he did it..." he shook his head, hair falling into his eyes. "He never planned to really KILL me...just destroy everything i held onto.." he shook his head "he said death was too easy for someone like me...he was right...at least it would've been over if he HAD killed me.."

Vector felt sorry for the shaken captain in front of him, he'd underestimated just how much Cortes had suffered. He was a stubborn person, very proud and strong-willed. To be used and abused like this...was the most painful, humiliating thing Oslo could've done..which was no doubt why he did it.

"But if you give in to those nightmares, then he's won. Don't let it destroy who you are, you're stronger then that, even if it doesn't feel like it right now..." vector looked worriedly at him "please Cortes, you have to let us help you. You cant force yourself to bear this burden all alone. There are people that care for you, and unless I'm mistaken..someone who's very much in love with you.."

Cortes looked up "you know-"

Vector stepped as close as the shielding would let him, lowering his voice so the doc standing behind them wouldn't hear.

"I can see it in the way he looks at you, how happy he seemed when you smiled.." the old man chuckled "he even asked if you were going out with someone, I've never seen anyone so nervous about asking that. He really genuinely...seems to want to be with you. But what about you?"

Cortes felt a stab of sadness, the angel really asked that? He'd wanted to know if HE was in love with anyone? He felt a sudden pang of longing, for that warm hold like aboard the ship, the cute little kiss he'd been given that morning.

"I cant...knowing what i am...with all these memories...i cant trust anyone that far...i just don't think i can..." he said at last.

"But do you want to?" vector asked.

Cortes paused, then thought about it. --It felt nice, that kiss, and even when he found me out cold in the shower, butt-nuddy, he didn't try anything funny, even though it must've been tempting. All he did in the end was make cheeky comments about my ass..he really does...seems nice..--

"I.." he paused "i guess...i wish i could...but i don't know..i don't understand.." he looked up at vector "why does he care so much? And even though, he's probably guessed by now i cant...go any further in that way...he doesn't want to give up..why?"

"Just because he was built by sphere scientists, doesn't mean he cant develop his own personality. He told me a lot about his life, how he met many other pirates and saijins, and picked up on how humans fell for each other...he was taught by pirates basically..and now he rally loves one...regardless of what happened, he cares about you.." he looked at Cortes, sensing his indecision "he could be the key to getting your old self back. Trust him, let him close, he only wants that you should feel better, nothing more. You need to learn to trust those around you, feel happy again...he can give you that.."

He added cheekily "and you obviously don't mind being fussed over by the guy, otherwise you would've punched him by now, I know you Cortes!"

Cortes twitched, then laughed "sh..shaddap vector!" he sniggered, feeling some of the pain lift away.

The shield flickered, then dropped, as did the one generating it. He'd expended more power then he'd thought in his state of panic.

Vector ran over and helped him stagger back to bed.

"REST, Cortes, your straining yourself far too much. Were not going to let anything to happen to you, so please....relax.."

Just as he got to the door, the astonished doctor in tow, he nearly bumped into a certain someone standing by the door.

"He's asleep at the moment.." vector told him.

Sirus sighed, "can i..go see him at least?"

The vector smiled "I think he'd be happy, he needs someone near him.."

The angel looked happy, and scuttled into the room. Hearing the door click shut behind him, he sat on a chair by Cortes bed. He looked at the snoozing human and smiled. He gently reached out and clutched the others hand in his own.

"Sleep love, I'll be here, just like i promised..." he whispered softly, watching Cortes as he slept.

* * *

It was the early hours of the morning before Cortes awoke. Sirus hadn't stirred from his seat, he didn't need to sleep that much, so he'd stayed awake, watching his beloved Cortes.

Cortes stirred, then slowly opened his eyes. "Uh..what?" he groaned.

Sirus blinked, then squeezed his hand "hey you, glad you're awake...how're you feeling?" he asked gently, stroking the humans cheek with the other hand.

Cortes smiled gently, and squeezed the hand back "better now i seen you i suppose.." he blushed after this.

Sirus smiled and leaned in, kissing his cheek gently, "I'm just glad you want me around.."

Cortes fidgeted, "uhm...vector told me..about the question you asked...and no, I'm not..seeing anyone"

Sirus smiled even brighter and kissed him again, nuzzling his cheek. "will you see me then?" he asked, turning red slightly.

Cortes hesitated for a moment, then remembered vector's words.

"I don't want anyone else." he said lightly, and got a surprise deep kiss from the angel.

"You still have to get a hold of that "enthusiasm" emotion haven't you?" Cortes squeaked as sirus let go.

The angel laughed "i guess so...~"

Cortes relaxed back against the pillow "how long have you been sitting there for?" he asked.

"Since vector left...i didn't want to leave you...i promised myself id never leave you.."

Cortes felt his heart ache a little as the angel spoke, this guy was so utterly devoted to him, even after how rude he'd acted, the angel had done nothing but be sweet and helpful. He WANTED to trust him, let him get close..but part of him still felt scared, memories of Oslo's assaults on him haunted his mind.

"What's wrong love?" sirus asked, seeing the flicker of sadness in his beloved Cortes' eyes.

"It's..i.." Cortes sighed "I've been thinking. Why didn't i just stop Oslo. I had these stupid powers right, so why did i let that bastard fuck with me? I used to think it would be better to die then ever be a part of the sphere...yet i gave in, all because of a selfish idea that i didn't want to end my life..not even if it would've saved people.."

"Its NOT selfish.." Sirus looked sweetly at him, stroking his hair. "You survived that, you're back with your people now...Oslo's probably pissed. You got yourself and those kids outta there..and you gave me a new home..i don't think you're selfish at all.

Everyone wants to live their life, why shouldn't you? You care so much for so many people...its for those people that you fought. You didn't want to give up, you wanted to see them again, fight again.."

"But.." Cortes managed to choke out at last "even if I'm some damn freak..giving me these powers...I'm little better then Oslo's pet guinea pig..he created what I've become...just what does that make me? I HATE using these powers...every time i do I'm reminded of how i came to have them..and it makes me sick to my stomach..that's why i don't want to train them.."

Sirus took all this in and nodded "i understand love..." he squeezed the hand again "i understand completely..but miss Lena has a point..why not use them to do the exact opposite of what Oslo wants? Use them AGAINST him...you power is strong, Lena said so, and if you worked at it..you could become a big threat to Oslo..."

Cortes thought about it. The angel had a point, if he let Oslo win, he'd be nothing better then a spineless sphere worker. He had a chance to get his own back, why not take it? --I'm not using them FOR the sphere,I'm using them AGAINST those scum! Serves them right for dreaming up this experiment..--

"I don't know...i need some time to think about it..." he said at last. Sirus smiled and poked his nose "take your time, love!" he said cutely.

Cortes looked at him and smiled. He felt better when this guy was around. Perhaps because he'd been the only good thing in the blur of pain and misery his stay on the monolith had been. Because he'd helped him after his master had hurt him.

--Even when I pushed everyone away, he didn't give up on me, even after i was so rude to him that night i was drunk..he still helped me, stayed with me..he didn't get mad when i was scared of being held..he just...waited until i was comfortable..--

He found himself getting sleepier and sleepier by the second, and was aware of sirus still holding his hand as he drifted asleep...

* * *

BANANA! XD hehe..

Random Fact: Arsehat is a year old! ^^ (1st Dec!)


	6. A Loving Touch

He was released a day later from the hospital at his own insistence. Some of the cuts and bruises were still healing, but he felt much better. Of course sirus was there to meet him soon as he got out the front door. He stayed by Cortes side all day, which made him feel a lot better..

Vector seen them hanging about together, and smiled. Cortes looked a lot more cheerful, although he still seemed a little apprehensive.

Sirus spent most of his time around Cortes. The human seemed reluctant to go outside of his rooms. He stayed inside a lot, and slept a lot too.

He also seemed reluctant to go out and eat.

So one day, Sirus decided to bring the food to him. He went to the tavern, cooked up a range of things, and headed towards Cortes' rooms.

He knocked on the door, and heard a tired voice mutter "come in.."

Cortes was curled up on the bed, rifling sulkily through a battered old book. He looked up as the nice smell of food drifted over.

"What's that?" he asked, sitting up, tucking his legs underneath him. Sirus perched on the bed beside him, placing the tray on the bed between them and lifting the cover off.

Cortes looked down at the delicious contents "did you make this?" he asked, eyes wide "It looks great!"

Sirus smiled "yup, i read through a recipe book and selected something i thought you might like.." he leaned over and kissed the captains cheek gently "now~ eat! You need to get some food in you, or you'll get ill.."

Cortes sighed, then smiled, reached for a fork. "Alright, you win.." he said softly. He leant against the other, and started making his way through the food. He noticed there was a second covered plate next to the main one. When he finished eating, he nodded his head at it "what's hiding under there?"

"Dessert!" the angel beamed, lifting it off to reveal a gorgeous looking cake. Cortes blinked, he'd never seen one like this before.

"C'mon.." sirus nuzzled him "eat up~"

Cortes smiled, and took a forkful of the soft cake. It tasted more then good, it was REALLY good. Before he knew it, he'd scoffed half of it.

Sirus looked pleased when he'd finished. "I'm glad you finally ate a proper dinner.." he said, moving the tray to the bedside and pulling the captain into his arms, nuzzling his nose.

Cortes felt his heart pound, and, blushing deeply, he kissed the other. He'd never done that before, but didn't want to be afraid all his life..

He felt the angels arms wrap around him as he continued the kiss. He closed his eyes, letting his apprehension fade away, he felt he could trust the angel completely...

At last they pulled apart, Cortes face was flushed, breathing a little rushed. The angel kissed him lightly "you're so adorable Cortes.." he said softly, running a hand through the captains pony tailed hair, "so cute..."

Cortes went even redder "don't be daft!" he blustered, only to be silence by a deep kiss.

"I'm not!" Sirus said "its the truth, you're cute, my precious Cortes~"

Cortes smiled and leaned against sirus' shoulder, closing his eyes, just letting himself get used to having someone so close. He was determined not to let his nightmares keep tormenting him..

He must've dozed off, for he woke several minutes later, and the sun had set outside the window.

Sirus had been holding him the whole time.

"Aren't your legs dead?" Cortes asked, blushing.

"No, I'm fine...but you on the other hand, need to go to bed..." he sat Cortes on the bed, and leaned over to kiss him. Cortes responded happily, then, as the angel made to go, he grabbed his hand.

"Please....i...i need you...to stay with me.." he mumbled, staring at the floor. He waited, expecting the angel to shrug him off and leave, but surprisingly, he didn't. He sat back down on the bed.

"Alright love.." he said quietly. Cortes wrapped his arms around the other and fell back onto the bed. He snuggled up to him, so the other couldn't leave.

Sirus understood what Cortes wanted, he knew the captain hadn't been sleeping well, that the nightmares had returned.

"Relax love....I'm here...i wont let you get hurt.." he gently rubbed the humans back, soothing him gently.

Cortes felt a smile creep onto his face, and he drifted asleep again, but this time he welcomed sleep, because the angel would be there if he needed him..

* * *

Birds chirping outside woke sirus from his sleep-state. He blinked, system shifting to wake mode. He looked at the figure clinging tightly to him and smiled. Cortes had slept well, he was smiling in his sleep.

The human looked so sweet and innocent, and having him so close was...perfect. He knew the human was scared of letting someone close, so for him to ask him to stay the whole night meant he was fighting to overcome that. --You're stronger then you think, my precious Cortes...don't give up love..--

"mmhh.." Cortes stirred, and their eyes met, clear blue meeting sleepy brown.

"Morning.." sirus said softly, kissing him sweetly Cortes responded, nuzzling into his neck and sighing softly.

"Thank you.." he mumbled, blushing, "for staying.."

"I'd stay as long you want my love.." the angel replied "as long as it makes you happy, ill do it.."

"But what about what YOU want?" Cortes asked, looking up at him.

Sirus smiled "i have everything i want right here...its YOU" he kissed the human and hugged him tightly.

Cortes wondered how the being could say such cute things with a straight face. Not that he minded, the angel was doing everything he could to make the human he loved feel better.

It felt safe, wrapped in the others arms, the warmth seemed to chase the pain away. He'd slept properly for the first time that night..

"Would you like some breakfast?" the angel asked gently, kissing his cheek.

Cortes looked hopeful "so long as its YOUR cooking." h grinned. The angel smiled brightly and kissed him, promising him it would be, then he left.

Cortes curled up on the bed as he waited for him to return. He felt a little better now, now that he had an angel to guard him..

The angel soon returned, carrying a tray with more lovingly cooked food. Again Cortes was snuggled into the angels arms while he ate, a feeling of contentment and happiness he'd never felt before now emerging...

Sirus seemed so happy, simply sitting with his human love kept him happy enough. Cortes began to think about the future, as in what was he going to do if things started moving forward? Unintentionally or not, his new partner was bound to want to go a little further sooner or later. He wasn't sure if he could, ever. --You're just lying to him by doing this...-- his brain lectured him, and he felt his throat lock up. He made a funny little noise and drew away from the angel.

"What's wrong?" sirus asked, seeing his love suddenly behaving so oddly. Cortes buried his head on his knees "i...i need to tell you something..." he took a deep breath before continuing "i...i can't..go any further then we are now..my memories are..."

A gentle hand alighted on his back "its OK love...i know what you went through, i wont force you to do anything cutie~" he rubbed the back of the captains neck, but this only made the human feel worse. He was being such a scaredy-cat and this guy was saying he'd wait? He deserved someone better...

"I think...I'm the wrong person you should be caring for.." he uttered at last "i don't know if i...will ever want to do *that* again, the thought just scared me right now...you shouldn't have to sit around while i struggle to make up my mind.."

"i don't care if you never want to cutie Cortes.." the angel said gently "all i want is to look after you..you helped me to break my programming, get free from Oslo...i was finally free to care about someone *I* chose...and i fell in love with *you*.."

"I...i need some time to think..." Cortes said at last. The angel understood, and nodded gently "alright love, if you need me, ill come find you~" he gave the human one last kiss on the cheek before leaving.

As soon as the door clicked shut Cortes let the tidal-wave of misery finally loose. It was several minutes before he was able to calm himself down.

He felt sickened by his own behaviour, that he'd acted like such a jerk. To the one person he really felt for. --I'm only hurting him by by acting this way..he derserves someone who can give him their full attention...--

He took a few deep breaths and began trying to calm himself down. The pain in his head eased, and gradually his breathing eased out. He'd just about calmed down fully when there was a knock on the door.

"Coming.." he called faintly, getting up from the bed and wandering over to the door.

It was Wayan standing outside the door. When the captain opened it he noticed his superior looked a little flushed, upset even. But he knew better then to ask, the captain was liable to get snappy.

"Sir, we're receiving reports of water, its unguarded so far as we know. What should we do?"

"Get the nazaire ready," Cortes stated, grabbing his jacket and stepping outside, "and lets get moving asap."

"Uh..you're coming too sir?" Wayan blinked, surprised, wasn't it a little early?

"Problem?" Cortes queried, looking crossly at him. He wanted to take his mind off what was driving him crackers, and a water hunt would be OK right?

"N-no sir, of course not.." Wayan said at last, but making a mental note to keep an eye on Cortes.

* * *

"Lets go already!" Mahad complained, as he fidgeted. Lena shook her head and sighed, her brother had the attention span of a gnat.

"Alright mr. fidget, keep yer pants on!" a familiar voice rang out behind him, and Mahad just about jumped out of his skin.

"C-Cortes!" he squeaked. The captain sniggered, as he sat himself in his familiar chair.

"You're back to work already?" the vector asked "you sure you're feeling better?"

Cortes didn't even look over "I'm FINE, vector.."

The vector sighed, but didn't dare argue. But like Wayan, he resolved to keep an eye on the captain.

When they arrived at the water spot, there was nobody around. Cortes felt a jolt of fear as he stepped onto the block. This was how it had happened last time..

But everything seemed to go smoothly, they'd just finished pumping the water from the block to the nazaire, when Cortes heard the sound of ships swooshing in. s-22s. He felt panic rise, followed by nausea. He tore outside, and stared up at the sphere ships....

It was then he snapped, it was either fight, or be caught again...

He closed his eyes, doing as he'd seen Lena do many times, drawing the energy from the bright sunlight filtering through the clouds above. He opened his eyes, flinging the accumulated power at the nearest ship as it swung towards him. It detonated it a blast of flames, bits of shattered bring falling out of the sky.

Mahads jaw hit the floor. "That was awesome!" he crowed. Running outside, Lena spotted the ships, and like Cortes, she began laying into them/

Between the two of them, with Cortes running on pure panic-adrenaline, they blew the lot up in no time.

"Quick you two, run, before more arrive!" Wayan yelled. The two saijins bottled for the ship, and they cleared off outta there, taking a different route back so there'd be little chance of further s-22 attack. Mercifully they encountered no more...

Cortes sat down in his chair, feeling light headed. It slowly began to sink in. He'd actually come close to his tormentors again. What if one of those ships had been di-wans, or worse, Oslo? He felt sick, he couldn't breathe....his head began to swim...

"Captain? are you alright? what's wrong?" he dimly heard Wayan's voice beside him, and felt a hand steady him as he staggered.

"I can't..breathe..." he managed at last, then everything faded..

* * *

He finally came back to consciousness to find himself lying on the bed in his cabin. Vector and Lena were sat by the side of the bed. As he swore loudly on waking, they stopped talking and looked over.

"How're you feeling captain?" vector asked. Cortes blinked, the groaned "urgh...not too good..wha' happened?"

"You had a panic attack of sorts, you couldn't breathe and passed out.." Lena said.

The vector looked worried, "its too soon for you to be using so much power, you're still recovering from the last incident. Why did you decide to do this run?"

Cortes sighed " truthfully vector. I don't know. I just needed to get out of puerto angel for a bit..." he leaned back against the pillows "i just want to sleep right now..."

The vector sighed, seeing the captain was avoiding the issue, but decided to let it drop. So he and Lena left, leaving the captain to sleep.

* * *

Back in puerto angel, sirus had by now found out about his Cortes going off on a mission. And it worried him, so he waited by the nazaire's docking spot for the ship to come back.

Soon it did, and one of the first people off was miss Lena. She ran up to him, and explained what had happened.

"I think...well i sensed..that he needs YOU right now. The ships not going to be used for ages, so you'll have some privacy if you wanna talk to him, he's resting in his cabin.."

Sirus decided to do exactly that. He waited until everyone else left, then snuck aboard..

* * *

Cortes was half asleep when he heard the knock at the door.

"Whossat?" he asked blearily.

"Its me.." the angel replied, "can i come in?"

"huh...y-yeah.." Cortes stammered out at last, sitting himself up.

The angel snuck in, shutting the door behind him. He sat on the bed, looking worriedly at Cortes.

"Lena told me what happened. Are you feeling OK love?" he gently stroked the captains hair.

Cortes felt even worse now "i...I'm sorry...about what i said before. I don't want you to leave me, it'd kill me to lose you to anyone else...but..making you tip-toe around me all the time because of my moods...its not fair on you..i.." he took a deep breath "..i WANT to go further then this, but I'm afraid of how my own mind, my own BODY even, might react...if seeing sphere ships gave me a panic attack..."

Warm arms wrapped around him and the angels voice was soothing "only do what YOU feel is right love....its alright to be scared, you've been through a lot...but..i talked to a lot of pirates when i was serving oslo...and..from what they told me, if its someone you love and trust, you don't have to be scared...."

Cortes snuggled into the angels embrace, the words ringing in his ears. Was he right? Did having someone who loved you make all the difference, or would be painful all the same..? Part of these things was *wanting* to enjoy them...and he'd been scared out of his mind when Oslo attacked him both times. The fear had only heightened the pain, as that was all it seemed to be...

"What's WRONG with me?" he blurted out at last, "its pathetic...I'm afraid of such stupid things...all because of Oslo.."

Sirus stroked his back gently "its alright love...its perfectly normal to feel like this...when something scares you, your mind automatically tries everything to stop you doing it again, because it doesn't have any idea that not every encounter is the same...its normal.."

Cortes sighed "What do i do? I want it to stop...i want to know if its different with someone who's not a crazy asshole bent on destroying humanity-" sirus snickered at this point, then calmed down "but i don't think i can convince myself..." he looked up at the angel "that's why i need *YOU*...you're going to have to convince me.." he nuzzled his nose, blushing faintly "..that it'll be OK, i cant do it by myself.."

The angel looked at him, getting an idea of what he was asking "are you sure, love? You're still recovering-" Cortes cut him off with a deep kiss.

"I don't care-" the captain blurted out "if i don't do something now...the hesitation, those damned doubts and fears, will never leave, they'll get worse...please.." he leant against the angel, "show me.."

He could hardly turn the human away, he knew, could see, how much Cortes was struggling with his memories and nightmares, to ask this of him..

So he kissed the captain gently, "anything for you, my captain~" he murmured, making Cortes blush.

"Mm~ lock the door~" the human whispered, "i don't want any....interruptions..." he fought the urge to laugh "or anyone seeing me naked!"

"Of course love..." the angel laughed "I'm the only one doing the seeing of *that*!"

This made Cortes laugh even harder. As the angel turned from locking the door, he was given a sneak-hug from Cortes.

He wrapped his arms around the humans waist, pulling him as close to him as was humanly possible. Then started on kissing of course~

Cortes felt a minor flutter of panic when a hand slipped under his jacket, and sweater, and ran across his back. But the shiver it sent up his spine was a pleasant one, and he could feel his resistance weakening with every gentle touch.

The angel holding him nuzzled at his neck gently, at the familiar weak spot he'd found on his human lover. Cortes squeaked in surprise as sirus took advantage of this momentary weakness and scooped him up in his arms, carrying him over to the bed. here, he ever so gently laid him down, brushing his hair from his face.

"You really are cute, love..." the angel told him, and Cortes blushed, wrapping his arms around the figure leaning over him. This felt so different to what his mind had been afraid of..he felt happy..safe...and a little nervous..

While his attention was diverted by more mind-melting kissing, he was aware of the others efforts to undo his jacket, but he wasn't afraid..

There was a soft fwumph as the jacket fell discarded to the floor..followed by the undershirt

* * *

"Crap, i forgot to ask Cortes about the paperwork.." Wayan cursed, and he zipped out of the door, headed for the docked ship

"Uh...i think he's a little busy at the mo..he and that angel guy are trying to sort something out.." Lena blurted. She may only have been young, but she was smart enough to figure out what was likely to be going on, they were having a little alone time../

* * *

"Mmm...fine body," the angel teased the human. Cortes blushed at the words, and was distracted from replying by another absorbing kiss, while his belt and trousers became focus of attention..

He squeaked as the others soft touch lingered at his waist, then the familiar tartan patterned belt joined the other articles of clothing scattered on the floor..

He felt his fear begin to betray him, and he groaned with pleasure in response to the others actions. His body point blank refused to continue the fight against his fears, and his mind seconded the notion.

He ran a hand through the angels soft pale blonde hair, wrapping it around his fingers as they kissed again. He felt hands touch bare skin, and the sound of fabric slither to the floor was drawn to his attention...

* * *

As he headed for the ship, Wayan wondered what Lena had meant by "a little busy"..

* * *

"I love you...don't forget that..." the blonde whispered softly to the blushing Cortes.

" I know..," he whispered back "I've never said it before, but...i love you too.." he nuzzled his nose softly "there's something else...my proper name...its Aran Cortes.."

Sirus smiled and kissed his nose "Aran...its perfect...just like you cutie,,," he leaned forward, kissed Cortes again, then began.

Cortes gasped sharply and made a startled sound, unprepared for the initial pain that followed. He heard the other murmur a gentle apology. But he took a few deep breaths, telling himself to relax..Then his partner kissed him and the last of the fear melted away, and the pain became something far more amazing...

* * *

Finally he reached the ship...he paused to catch his breath as he walked to where the captains cabin was. From outside he'd seen the curtain had been drawn, which seemed a little odd, but never mind, and now he was about to knock;

"Mmhh~ i-ahh-"

he froze mid-way to knock, he could hear something going on, on the other side of the door. And it sounded pretty...personal~

He turned bright red and tore off. Whoops.

* * *

The two on the other side of said door hadn't even copped on they'd nearly been rumbled. They were far too busy.

Cortes had lost grip on what little of his senses remained, all that mattered was what was happening now..

Even as he wished it never had to end, the ecstasy reached its peak, the feeling enough to drive them both wild.

Cortes closed his eyes, his mind feeling dazed and light-headed. His partner kissed him gently, then snuggled up besides him, locking his arms around the humans waist.

Cortes shifted so they were face to face, and nuzzled his neck "thank you.." he murmured sleepily. The angel smiled, and kissed his cheek, running a hand through Cortes hair, pulling the ponytail pout "anything to make you happy, my lovely Aran.."

Cortes smiled "oh you definatly did that.." he said cheekily, blushing bright red. Sirus pulled him as close as he could, breathing in the scent of his lovers hair and skin.

"Mmm...thank you Aran.." he murmured, kissing his neck.

"Hm, what for? i should be thanking YOU...you didn't give up on me..even when i was behaving like a real ass..."

"You have a perfectly nice ass Aran" sirus responded coolly "and thank you....for letting me love you~"

Cortes laughed, hugging him tightly, feeling the stress and misery all gone as he laughed

Sirus smiled and kissed him "damnit you're so cute Aran, once just isn't enough" he nuzzled him "i just want to ravish you again~"

Cortes bit his lip, a thought occurring to him "well, when did i say you had to stop?" he said, something like a grin on his face..

* * *

FINALLY! __ Stupid fsking ARSEHAT crashed mid-way through this one, so it hadda be recovered and bits of it retyped. Stupid laptop...

Random Fact: I HATE Vista.


	7. Investigation In Progress

Some time later.....

"Mmm, i think we'd better stop there love, otherwise you wont be able to walk.." sirus said snuggling Cortes.

The pirate smiled "mm...i guess so.." he kissed him gently. "shall we go get breakfast..?"

"Sounds perfect~" the angel smiled, and together they redressed then left the nazaire.

Partway there Cortes had an idea...he told the angel to go on ahead, he had a quick errand to run.

Walking through a backstreet, Wayan spied the captain scurrying towards a shop. --Finally i found you!!-- he thought, and chased after him.

* * *

"And could you have it ready as soon as possible..?" Cortes asked.

The seamstress nodded and smiled "sure, captain, it wont take long.."

Cortes smiled "thanks, that'd be great!", he'd ordered a uniform made up for his lover, since Sirus needed a set of new clothes.

He stepped outside onto the pavement, feeling the sunlight warming his face, he smiled...

"CAPTAIN!!" He just about jumped a mile in the air, whipping round to see Wayan standing beside him.

"Jeez Wayan, don't do THAT." he snapped, his heart doing laps around his ribcage.

"Sorry, but maybe if you paid attention.." Wayan said, then added "I've been trying to get hold of you all day...but you were..uh.."busy" earlier i gathered...at least that's what it sounded like..."

Cortes twitched, his face crimson red. "Wayan. Shut. Up. Before i remove your bowels and make them into a bobble hat."

Wayan snickered, he couldn't help it. You didn't get many opportunities to wind Cortes up, so when they arose, you took them.

"Didn't your mother ever teach you not to eavesdrop?" Cortes twitched again.

"Who said i had to eavesdrop, i could hear it halfway down the hall-"

"WAYAN, SHUT UP BEFORE I RAM A BAZOOKA DOWN YOUR THROAT!"

Wayan tore off, followed by the enraged captain.

--------------

"So anyway, then i-" Mahad, mid story to Dahlia, got cut off as he was nearly run over by two stampeding figures.

"Hey its not my fault you were "preoccupied" all day captain!"

"WAYAN, I'M GONNA STUFF YOU INTO THE WASTE COMPACTER IF YOU DONT SHUT THE FUCK UP!!"

"Catch me first!"

"You forget its daylight, I'm gonna blast your ass!"

As the two vanished out of sight Mahad twitched.

"What..the hell was that?"

Dahlia blinked "a very pissed Cortes trying to kill Wayan i think..."

"Why?" Mahad asked.

Dahlia snickered "Wayan mentioned he went to find Cortes earlier. But came back saying he was "busy"...judging by the innuendo in what they were yelling...id say the captain was "otherwise occupied"..."

"Meaning…?" Mahad asked, looking blank.

Dahlia sighed and shook her head "MEANING, dumbo, el Capitan was shacked up with someone~"

Mahads eyes went wide "seriously?!" he started laughing "Cortes? date? sorry, those two words don't go...even if he did, who d'ya think it was? Girl or Guy?"

Dahlia shrugged "you know..i never thought about it, Cortes is so secretive. I wouldn't be surprised if he's gay..."

"Bet you lunch he isn't!" Mahad snickered.

"Your on!" Dahlia giggled gleefully. Then they launched operation: Find out captains preference!

* * *

He wound up chasing Wayan all the way to the tavern, where he finally met up with sirus again.

"You alright Aran?" the angel asked, "you look a little...worn out.."

"And whose fault is that? the mind boggles!" Wayan added as he walked past.

Cortes made a VERY rude gesture at him and dragged himself onto a bar stool. He gulped down an entire canister of water before he could speak..

"Wayan KNOWs," he said, looking at sirus, speaking in a low whisper, "he came on the ship to find me..and uh..heard us..."

Sirus blinked "Whoops..?" he said sheepishly. Cortes shook his head, smiling slightly.

"Guess i should've known nothing stays private around here..."

Wayan was trying to figure out just who Cortes had been with on the ship. Thus began Operation: Who The Heck Was Cortes Sleeping With?

Cortes groaned silently and let his head rest on the bar in front of him "if Wayan blurts it out i'll never hear the end of it.."

"If you'd prefer, we can just keep it a secret?" Sirus asked. Cortes nodded "just for now..."

* * *

After a few drinks, they parted ways, to avoid suspicion. Cortes wandered along to the archives room, which was kind of like a library. He sat at a table by the open window, the sunlight already returning the spent energy to him. He pulled a book on Mechanical Engineering from the shelf and a few other titles, and began reading..

Pretty soon though, he fell asleep across the desk.

* * *

"Shh..he went in here.." Dahlia whispered. She and Mahad snuck into the archives room. The spotted the snoozing Cortes, and scuttled over to see what he'd been reading.

"Mechanical Engineering: Advanced Level.." Mahad read "and "propulsion systems, a history."...man how dull.."

"Look at this one.." Dahlia held up the last book "its a copy of that "Romeo and Juliet" play...its a little old fashioned, but supposed to be sort of cutesy...whys he reading this?"

Mahad shrugged "maybe trying to impress a lady friend?"

Dahlia shrugged "or he grabbed it by mistake..it's not really your average guy's reading material.."

"Damn...that doesn't answer anything..." Mahad complained. At that moment Cortes stirred, and they bolted. He sat up with a yawn, and noticed the Shakespeare book.

"Huh? where'd this come from? Must've been stuck between then text books..." cautiously he opened the battered book and flipped through it..

In the end he took the book with him, just out of curiosity. Even if it didn't make a lot of sense, maybe Sirus could translate it..?

* * *

Speaking of which, Sirus had gotten into conversation with Wayan with regards to Cortes.

"Hey, you got any clue who Cortes has been eyeing up?" he asked him.

Sirus blinked innocently "uhm, no sorry, i haven't a clue..how about you?"

Wayan shook his head "he's definitely after someone, he was drifting about grinning like a loon al the way to the shop..he's got that "shag happy" look on his face...plus he's walking kinda funny..."

Sirus had to make a supreme effort not to choke laughing on his drink. Instead he just kept a calm expression. Barely.

* * *

The two kids followed Cortes when they seen him emerge from the library. He went in search of Lena.

She was down by the lighthouse, playing with Cheng. They two looked up as they heard footsteps.

"Hey Cortes!" Cheng called, waving at him "what's up?"

Cortes smiled faintly "i need to do some target practise...might as well learn to use this power properly huh?"

Lena beamed "c'mere, i got a few tricks to show you..."

She was amazed at how fast the adult saijin was learning. Although shed noticed the powers seemed mainly triggered when he was mad or panicked. So he needed to learn to trigger them normally..

Unlike her, who'd been born with the abilities, Cortes got tired far more easily then she did.

Dahlia and Mahad had gotten bored, and so pretended to be "just arriving" so they could come out from behind the rocks.

"Hey sis!" Mahad called, Lena looked up and waved. Cortes blinked, looking at them "what're you two doing?"

"Were bored.." Dahlia shrugged "its been quiet all day..."

Cortes sighed, and got to his feet "i gotta go, thanks for the help Lena.." and he was off..

"Is it me..or is he acting kinda odd?" Mahad asked. Lena shrugged "he's a little quiet, but i thought it was because of the panic attack after the fight.."

-----------------------------------

Cortes sighed as he walked back to the tavern. He took the back routes so he wouldn't be bothered. Halfway there however, he bumped into a certain person he adored dearly.

"Hey Aran. You alright?" Sirus asked, patting his arm gently.

Cortes sighed "yeah..I'm fine..just a little tired..." he said wearily.

Sirus nuzzled his cheek, and Cortes caught him by surprise by kissing him abruptly.

"Mm...feel better?" the angel asked. Cortes blushed "i think so.." he said softly, smiling.

"Where you headed?" Sirus asked him.

"I dunno..probably my office, get some work done...anything to avoid Wayan bugging me.."

"Would he really give that much hassle?" the blonde asked frowning. Cortes shrugged "he's been making rude guesses all day..he's not gonna give up until he fins out..." the human crossed his arms and scowled "Is it so damn difficult to keep outta my business…?"

"People are probably just curious..." the angel smiled "probably people want to know who the lucky one is.."

Cortes grinned at him "well, ill see ya later...i got work to do.." then he was off, a faint smile on his face.

From behind a pile of bins Mahad and Dahlia were still none the wiser. They'd stumbled upon the two just after Sirus asked where Cortes was going. So the rest of the conversation seemed perfectly normal.

They waited until the blonde was gone before standing up..

"Damn, still no ideas! is he gay or not?!" Mahad squawked. Dahlia sighed "man he's so secretive. Hell, he rarely even smiles unless he can help it..."

* * *

Cortes wound up being holed up in his office all day, around evening time he finally decided to head home. He got in, and flicked on the radio, sending a quick transmission to someone, that sat down on the bed, flipping through the Romeo and Juliet book again.

A few minutes later a knock came at the door.

"Come in.." he said, smiling as a familiar blonde entered. In his arms he was carrying a basket.

"I made some more of that cake Aran~" he smiled "its sort of a ....hobby now i guess, the cooks let me use the kitchen whenever i like..."

Cortes scooted up to him on the bed, and wrapped his arms around the other, distracting his attention from cake for several minutes.

Then they cuddled up on the bed together, and started on the dessert...

* * *

"Mnh...I'm stuffed..you really are a great cook~" Cortes laughed, propping himself up against Sirus. The angel smiled and kissed him gently "hm~ glad you enjoyed it my sweet Aran~"

Cortes snuggled up to him "mm, you don't have to go do you?" he asked innocently, looking at him.

"Not if you want me to stay love..." the angel responded, nuzzling his neck.

Cortes blushed "mm..i was thinking the whole night...then..." he kissed him "a nice shower in the morning.."

* * *

Next morning, the shower was duly underway. They spent far too much time on the study of "is it possible to get up to anything in a shower"....

* * *

"I think i have tile grooves in my butt..thank you" Cortes mock-grumbled. Sirus snickered "sorry, you looked so cute i just had to kiss you..."

"And then some!" Cortes added with a laugh.

Not long after they got dressed Wayan radioed over saying they were going on a scouting mission. Cortes insisted on going. Wayan at first objected, then relented. Once he got off the radio, sirus asked:

"Can i come Aran?"

Cortes blinked, then shrugged "well, i doubt anyone will mind..it's MY ship, and I make the rules!"

"Yay!" he glomped the human and kissed him happily.

* * *

Nobody batted an eyelid when an extra passenger showed up, they just assumed he wanted to see how they worked. The angel stood by Cortes as he steered the ship. While Cortes was eyeing the view out the window, sirus had afar more interesting view in mind...

He realised Cortes was talking and blinked "wha...sorry..." he apologised.

Cortes nipped down to his cabin to grab some maps, and the angel followed, and Cortes went over what he'd just been telling him.

"What were you thinking about that was so fascinating?.."

"Uhhh.." sirus admitted "i was staring at your arse"

Cortes twitched "you need to stop getting so distracted..."

"Just by your arse? or just general distractions?" the angel responded. Cortes hit him over the head with the maps, and they both burst out laughing as they re-entered the main deck.

Mahad, Lena and the rest all looked up at the unfamiliar sound of hearing the captain laughing.

"Whoa, check for flying pigs people, Cortes is laughing?" Mahad said, sounding bemused.

Cortes sat himself down in his chair. After that, every time he caught the angels gaze, the urge to laugh would arise again.

* * *

When the ship docked at the block, Mahad, along with Wayan and Dahlia, went in search of the water.

Mahad and Dahlia were whispering furiously about something. Wayan snuck up behind them to listen in;

"DAMNIT,.we followed him all DAY and he still isn't giving us any clues!" Dahlia whined crossly.

"Tell me about it, wed have better luck asking him ourselves.." Mahad grumbled.

"You kidding..? "oh by the way Cortes, who was it you were boinking on the st nazaire yesterday?" you wouldn't get past the start of the sentence without him punching your lights out..."

Wayan blinked, then butted in "you guys are tryin' to find out too?!"

The two kids stopped and looked guilty.

Wayan snickered "what's the bet then?"

Dahlia grinned "i say he's Gay, Mahad says he isn't!"

"Hmm".. Wayan thought about it "I've got my money on a guy as well, otherwise it've been spread round town by the local rumour mill..."

"So how're we gonna find out?" Mahad asked. Wayan shrugged "try catch him out somehow.."

* * *

On board the ship, Cortes was slouching in his chair, staring out at the sky. Sirus was standing behind him. He watched the way the sunlight glinted off his lovers ginger hair.. he brushed his fingers through the humans ponytail, twining the hair around his fingers.

Cortes blinked, but smiled, closing his eyes as the angels hand wandered to the back of his neck, sending a familiar pleasant thrill up his back..

It took a lot of restraint for the angel not to just lean in and kiss the human. But his lovers adopted son, along with the old guy Vector, were down at the display terminal, they might see them..

--Guess I'll have to wait until we get home to hold you, love..--

* * *

"Awright!" Mahad yelled down the radio "we've got it, were on our way back!

"You got it!" Lena cheered, and she and cheng grinned.

Sirus popped up behind them "how'd it go?"

Cheng gave him a thumbs up "we got water, and plenty of it!"

The angel smiled "that's a relief..."

"Where's Cortes?" Vector asked, "i haven't heard a peep outta him.."

Sirus pointed to the chair "he's fallen asleep i think..."

Vector grinned evilly, then went over to the control panel and hit the alarm klaxon.

"Gwahh- I didn't blow up the oven i swear!" blurted the somewhat dazed Captain.

This statement got a load of laughter from everyone assembled.

Cheng was laughing so hard he got hiccups.

Cortes leaned over, glared at the sniggering Vector, and made a very rude gesture. This only made the old man laugh harder.

Even Sirus couldn't keep a straight face, but he was careful not to let Aran see him laughing.

"Perhaps i need rest.." Cortes grumbled..."im going to bed as soon as i get home.."

Leaving Wayan to fly, he staggered off to his cabin, Sirus following, asking him this and that.

Just as they were halfway down the corridor, the ship hit a patch of turbulence, a stormy pocket. The ship jolted roughly, and Cortes fell back against the wall. The angel quickly grabbed him before he could fall over completely, and held onto him.,

"Whoops.?" Cortes offered,. The angel smiled, then kissed the captain gently. Cortes happily let him, he hated having to keep it a secret, so moments like this were heaven...

Another jolt, and Cortes nearly fell again, causing Sirus to grab him a second time, holding him upright.

Cheng had gone after his foster father to ask him something, and had stuck his head round the corner in time to see the angel catching his adoptive dad.

"You OK?" the blonde asked. Cortes blinked and shook his head "yeah..just a little dizzy..." he carefully regained his balance, and the angel at last let go. Although he seemed kind of reluctant to do so..

Cheng decided he had to butt in, and scooted round the corner. The two adults blinked, and stared at him as if he was a space alien.

"Hey Cortes, me Mahad and Lena are gonna go out in the Hyperion, can we?"

Cortes blinked, he seemed distracted "alright, just don't go far from the nazaire, and BE CAREFUL."

Cheng grinned and ran off. Cortes waited until he was gone, then smacked his forehead with the palm of his hand.

"What's wrong Aran?" Sirus asked. Cortes groaned "i swear he knew something...damnit, they're never gonna give up until they find out.."

Sirus snuggled his cheek gently "it'll be OK love...I'm sure!"

Cortes smiled "yeah, i suppose so..."

* * *

Out in the Hyperion with Mahad and Lena, Cheng told them all about what he'd seen.

"So..you think that guy fancies the captain?" Mahad blinked. Cheng shrugged "eh..probably..hes always hanging around him.."

Mahad thought about it "heyyyy...you don't think..he's the one Cortes was...?"

Cheng shrugged "beats me.."

Lena sighed and shook her head "cant you guys leave him alone, so what if he's got someone?" she knew who it was of course, and she wasn't going to tell her nosy brother if she could help it.

Mahad was about to interrupt when a distress signal cut into their discussion…

* * *

Glee, i finally got rounf to putting this chapter up! xD Thans to Arsehats main HD going a little...peculiar, id forgotten about it..

Random Fact: I cant stop sneezing. Every time i do, my cat glares at me.


	8. Truth Will Out

Cortes walked back onto the main area with a sigh. He'd wanted to have some time alone with the angel, but Wayan had radioed him telling him Mahad and Lena had picked up a distress signal.

"Who's it from?" he asked.

"The guy didn't give his name..but he said he's stuck in ice...the ships called the Callisto..ring any bells?"

Cortes twitched, and said a very rude word.

"I don't believe it..what's HE doing here?" he fumed.

"Captain?" Wayan asked "what do we do?"

"Argh..fine, we'll find him!" Cortes growled. He looked pissed.

Wayan decided not to ask. It must be someone Cortes had a beef with if he was that mad...

* * *

But they weren't the only ones on the way.

"Captain, Mahad says he's picked up some s-22s intercepting the guy...we need to get there before they do, full speed?"

"Aye, get a move on!"

Within a few minutes they'd come in range, but it was still cutting it close. Then Cortes abruptly vanished. By the time Wayan realised the captain had hijacked a mosquito it was too ate. The bay doors opened, and Cortes lone ship zipped out. Its lighter weight meant it could travel much quicker.

Sirus blinked as the ship tore off into the distance, where they could see a ship trapped in ice.

Cortes seen a few s-22s ahead, and a opened fire on the closest two. By ramming into one, he knocked it into the other, blowing them both up. The third meanwhile, had gone ahead, and was heading for a lone figure stranded on the ice.

He set the craft to land, and as it wheeled over the two figures, he leapt out of the cockpit, the craft going on auto pilot.

He landed on the ice, just above the two. And felt his stomach lurch. It was Di-Wan.

--Now you're in for it..-- he thought angrily. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and began charging as much power as he could handle..

* * *

Down below meanwhile, Di-Wan hadn't noticed Cortes, she was too busy yelling at the guy in front of her.

"So, you think you can get away with stealing Sphere energy do you?"

"Well evidently, or i wouldn't have tried.." the figure snapped back.

Di-Wan glared, and prepared to fry him with one shot. But not before a colossal blue energy ball hit her in the gut, sending her skidding several metres across the ice, knocking her senseless for a few seconds.

"Who...who dared..Lena?" she growled. And got to he feet, staring at the jackass responsible...

"Well Well...i had a feeling you'd resurface..." she snarled.

Cortes shrugged "come on now..you didn't think i was gonna let you lot off Scot free now did you?"

Di-Wan made to respond, then did a double take. The guy standing beside Cortes, the one she'd been about to fry. He looked the spitting image of the rebel leader, bar the hairstyles.

"Well well, so there's another of your wretched family is there?" she laughed "excellent, two birds with one stone-"

She fired the blast, the other guy ducked, expecting it to hit..and got a shock when he seen Cortes easily swipe it aside, and fire one of his own.

"wha...Aran. How did you.." he blinked.

"Just don't ask, ok Christophe?" Cortes snapped.

Christophe Mendias Theodore Cortes, as was his full name, could only stare as his brother got into a fight against Di-Wan.

--How..no way my little brother is a saijin..i would've known...but..-- he watched them fight --he's so strong..he really knows how to fight..--

He heard the sound of a ship landing behind him, and whipped round. But it wasn't the Sphere ships. It was the Hyperion. Mahad and Lena piled out, along with cheng. Next second the nazaire touched down, and Wayan and Dahlia joined them.

"Hey!" Dahlia snapped, aiming her bow at him "who're you-wait a sec..." she blinked at Christophe.

"You look just like.."

"...Cortes.." Wayan finished.

Christophe grinned "well of course i do..." he pointed proudly at the battling Cortes "he's my little brother!"

Everyone's jaws dropped "BROTHER?!" they screeched.

"Yup" Christophe smiled "its been donkeys years since i seen him...funny thing is.." he looked baffled "last i checked. Nobody in our family was a saijin..so how the hell did he develop so much power?"

Everyone went silent. Lena winced "its a long story...and not a pleasant one..to put it shortly...the Sphere did it."

Christophe looked at her "did what?" he looked pissed "what'd they do to my little brother?"

"It was an experiment.." Lena said quietly "you'll have to ask him yourself.."

Christophe twitched "they dared lay a hand on my brother, I'll kick their asses personally..!"

"Er..guys..what about the fight?" Mahad pointed out.

Cortes and Di-Wan were pretty even, they were both beating the hell out of each other. But Di-Wan had been keeping some power back, she waited until Cortes had his back to the very edge of the ice block, then let him have it. He hadn't been expecting such a large bolt, and the ice beneath him cracked, pitching him backwards off the block. He thought for sure he was going to die, then he hit solid ground. A small ice ledge had broken his fall. And his left ankle. His shoulder also hurt a great deal. Looking at it he seen it was dislocated quite badly.

"ARAN!" Christophe panicked as he seen Di-Wan hurt his brother. "You bitch-" he fumed "just wait till i get hold of you..!"

Lena grabbed his arm "let ME deal with her!" she growled "you guys free the ship and find Cortes! He's on an ice ledge, he's not dead!"

Christophe felt a surge of relief. But now they had to get to him.

"What's going on?" a new voice butted in as Lena went against Di-Wan.

Wayan turned to look at Sirus "the captains hurt, he's stuck on some ice ledge, we cant reach him from here-"

Sirus turned and ran over to the ledge "ill get him, you guys stay here!!" as he spoke he leapt off the block edge, the wings snapping out the stop his fall.

Christophe's jaw dropped "ashasfah...WHO OR WHAT THE HELL?!" he squeaked.

Mahad grinned "he was a Sphere robot, Oslo had him built..but he escaped with Cortes from the monolith..he's freaking awesome!"

Sirus swooped down, looking for his beloved Aran. At last he seen him, slumped on a narrow, jutting ice ledge. He carefully flew over.

" still..I've got you.." he carefully scooped him up in his arms. Cortes winced, his shoulder ached, and he was cut and scratched from the fall.

"Where is everyone?" he asked weakly.

"They're trying to get the ship free Aran, and Lena's keeping diwan at bay..c'mon..lets get you home.." he kicked off the ledge, landing them back on the block by the nazaire.

Christophe panicked when he seen the state of his brother.

"Aran! s he OK?" he asked Sirus. The angel blinked, taking in the similarities between Cortes and him "we need to get back to puerto angel, now..he needs a doctor.."

They carried Cortes aboard, Christophe ran back to his ship, and the nazaire took off, aiming its cannons at the Callisto. a few modified shots later, and the ship broke free of its ice prison, and joined it's sister ship.

Lena meanwhile had successfully managed to knock Di-Wan out for long enough to scramble back to the Hyperion with Cheng and her brother, and fly back to the nazaire.

Sirus had laid the captain down on his bed and was attempting to clean his injuries. Vector was surprised by how much the mechanical being knew. But they were both concerned by the dislocation.

"Just shove it back into place.." Cortes winced.

Vector blinked at him "captain we cant,, theirs no painkillers here...it'd hurt like hell.."

"Well I cant even lie down with it like this, JUST DO IT!" Cortes snapped.

Vector and Sirus looked at each other-

* * *

"Lets get going!" Wayan said relieved, as the twin ships turned and tore off.

"where's the radio I wann--" but what ever Mahad wanted was cut off by:

"YEEEAAARRGHOW!HOLYFUCKINGCRAP!"

"What was that?! Lena said. Mahad sniggered "who else do we know that uses that word so often? Cortes obviously!"

"But what was he yelling for?" Dahlia asked.

Wayan blinked "I noticed he'd dislocated his shoulder, he must've told the vector to push it back into place.." he winced "it hurts like hell without painkillers though..."

* * *

It certainly did. Poor Cortes blacked out from the pain, and Sirus took the opportunity to bandage his ankle up.

--You poor thing Aran, you've been hurt so much...sleep, I'll look after you..-- he thought, brushing some strands of hair away from the humans face gently. --sleep my love..--

Cortes slept nearly all the way to puerto angel. When he woke up, he was alone in his cabin, wrapped up in the bed. He sat up, hi shoulder ached a little, but it was nowhere nearly as bad. He swung his legs over the side of the bed, and hesitantly tried putting weight on his feet. It hurt like hell. So in the end he settled for limping very slowly down towards the main area.

* * *

"How many years between you two?" Wayan asked, Christophe grinned "just 5, Aran was the baby of the family..here, look!"

He pulled out a wallet, in which he had stashed a few photos. One was off him with Cortes when the other was just 5. He was sitting on Christophe's lap, holding a plush toy, that looked like the pirate symbol. Put simply, he was adorable, big brown eyes, fluffy ginger hair.

"AWW!" al the girls squealed. Sirus blinked, leaning over Christophe's shoulder. He automatically scanned the image to his internal memory for later viewing.

"He looks so cute...that's really adorable!"

By now nobody had noticed Cortes sneaking up on them. He leaned past Sirus, and grabbed the photo out of Christophe's hand.

His brother whipped round, and blinked "ehe..hi Aran|!"

Aran Cortes twitched "gimmie those!" he demanded, but Chris waved them outta his reach.

"Gimme those or I'll show all of puerto angel that home movie of you!"

"You wouldn't dare, "awan!"!"

"Yes i will, now gimme those dumbass!"

Sirus blinked, looking from one to the other.

Vector was laughing his head off "good grief...they're like little kids. You can tell their related judging by tier idiotic behaviour in each others presence!"

Cortes made a swipe at his brother, grabbing the wallet, but losing his balance at the same time. It was up to Sirus to move quickly and grab Cortes before he hit the floor.

While the angel propped him up, Cortes stuffed the wallet into his jackets inner pocket. Christophe looked peeved, but Cortes just pulled a face at him..

Wayan sniggered, wipign his eyes "oh man i haven't seen anything that funny in awhile!"

Everyone else was giggling fit to bust as they got off the ship.

Sirus helped Cortes limp to the hospital, then after having a support fitted on the broken ankle, helped him back to his rooms.

He laid the other down on the bed and kissed him gently. Cortes sighed, "i cant believe that idiot..hmph..but i got the photos at least.." he pulled the wallet out, only for Sirus to yoink it seconds later.

"Hey! he objected, grabbing for them. Sirus looked innocently at him, pulling the puppy-dog eyes look."aww...i wanna see Aran.."

Cortes sighed "FINE, but you'd better give them back when your done.."

Sirus flipped through the images, giggling at how sweet little Cortes was. He looked so adorable...

"Hee...cutie Aran!" he smiled. Cortes shook his head and sighed.

"You're a total goof you know that?" he complained, "now gimme those!"

Sirus smiled and handed them over to the grouchy Cortes, but not before giving him a happy little kiss as a thank you.

Cortes smiled faintly and tucked the photos away.

There was a knock on the door, Cortes blinked "doors open.." he said at last.

Chris stuck his head round the door, and waved "'ey Aran, oh you're the guy from earlier.." here he spotted the angel perched on the edge pf his brothers bed.

Sirus blinked, as Chris plonked himself on the bed as well, and poked his brother in the head.

"Geez, you haven't changed!" he snickered "still pissing the Sphere off!"

Cortes glowered at him "and you're still the same, STILL relying on ME to bail you out of YOUR messes..." he sighed irritably "what in hell were you playing at?"

Chris shrugged, "just a little venture..." he said "not much..."

"NOT MUCH?!" Cortes fumed "you had that psycho bitch Di-Wan after you!"

"Speaking of which, what was she on about "should've known you'd resurface", how did you wind up with that kinda power..."

Cortes looked away from him "id rather not talk about it THANKS. Lets just blame Oslo and have done with it. That's all you need know..i didn't volunteer to be used by that git.."

His brother sighed, seeing he was gonna get nothing more out of Cortes, and instead turned his attention to Sirus.

"So where'd you come from?" he asked, baffled by how human he looked.

Sirus just blinked and answered calmly "i was built on the monolith, it was another of Oslo's...projects, he wanted something far superior than a brig, so he had me designed.."

"But how'd you escape..? Excuse me if i sound stupid, but aren't robots programmed to serve someone specific.?"

"I WAS programmed to..." Sirus glowered at the memory "but I've since...re-written the programs parameters, i haven't a need for a 'master' as programming normally dictates.."

Chris whistled "hoowee...that's pretty damn amazing...so now you're staying here?"

Sirus smiled "mm-hmm....id only ever heard of the world outside the monolith from books and research...when Aran told me about his home i wanted to see it..get away from the monolith. From the Sphere...the things they're doing..they're inhuman..."

Cortes had listened to this, and when he seen how happy the angel was to have a home, he couldn't help smile a little himself.

"You coming to the tavern Aran?" Chris asked "everyone's asking where you are..."

Cortes sighed "eh, suppose so.."

* * *

So with his brother and Sirus' help, he was able to get to the tavern (crutches were a pain in the ass he decided, when it came to stairs..)

People immediately started asking questions when they spotted his brother. Since he'd never mentioned to anyone he had a relative, this was news to most people. Cortes seemed visibly annoyed by his brothers presence, but he said nothing. But at least it distracted from the "find out Cortes lover's identity" craze that had been going on.

Cortes was more then a little peeved, he'd had little to do with his brother, they'd simply grown up in separate ways, and hadn't seen much of each other. Chris was far more cheerful, outgoing then his little sibling. Cortes, he noted, was very serious, and seemed to be entirely focused on his job. But seeing as he was puerto angels leader, he supposed it was normal..

"So what made you decide to come back?" someone asked. Chris smiled lightly "well..i wanted to see my brother again, even if he is mad at me, it good to see he's looking after himself.."

"Aran.." a soft voice interrupted Cortes' sulking. The human looked up, just as Sirus sat down beside him.

"What's the matter Aran?" he asked. Cortes sighed "I..i don't know...i guess i just didn't expect to ever see him again..we have separate lives, he runs about getting in trouble, then expects me to bail him out every time.."

"He obviously trusts you then, its pretty obvious he loves his little brother..he came back this time for good, he said. He wants to see more of you, he missed you..give him a chance Aran.."

Cortes sighed "well...i suppose so..at least with him here i can keep an eye on him..."

"There ya go.." Sirus smiled and patted his shoulder. Watching them, Chris picked up on the kind, loving look in the angels eyes. He had a feeling the mechanical being was in love with Aran. Not that he minded, the angel seemed like just the right person to cheer his overworked and over-stressed brother up.

But he couldn't ignore the niggling fact that his brother was obviously hiding something. The fact he refused to tell him what happened with the Sphere was worrying. --I know he's mad at me, i haven't exactly been the most helpful brother in the world, i ask a lot of him..but i wish he'd talk to me..--

Cortes sighed wearily, he was starting to feel tired again. He mumbled something about going home and left quickly. Sirus offered to walk him back, but Cortes shook his head, saying he needed the space.

As his brother left, Chris approached Sirus "hey, mind if i ask ya something'?" he asked the blonde.

Sirus blinked "uhm..sure..what is it?"

Chris sighed "What happened to my little brother, what did those creeps do to him..."

Sirus sighed "im not..at liberty to say...its up to Aran, and the memories of what went on there have been tormenting him enough lately...he doesn't need another reminder of it right now..please give him time..."

Chris sighed, then nodded "right,, gotcha..." as the angel turned to go, he blurted out "wait, just one more thing.."

Sirus blinked "yes?"

Chris sighed "feel free to smack me if I'm wrong, but you're in love with my brother, right?"

Sirus blinked, wondering how this guy had found out so fast, "yes, i want him to be happy, he's been through hell..."

"Just do me a favour...promise me you'll look after my little brother, OK?" Chris asked him.

Sirus smiled softly, then nodded "i intend to, don't worry about that.." and he left.

Chris sighed in relief, he was glad his brother had someone to keep an eye on him, and the angel seemed very devoted to Cortes.

* * *

Sirus caught up with Cortes just as the other was struggling to unlock his apartment door and not fall over. Holding the human close, he opened it for him, and followed him in.

Cortes sat on the bed and sighed. Sirus sat beside him, and pulled him into his arms.

"It'll be OK Aran, love..." he said softly, "ill be here...."

"I..i don't know what to do...i cant tell him..i just cant..."

"You mean about...what Oslo did?" Sirus asked, and Cortes nodded, flinching at the memory.

"He asked me..to tell you not to worry about it, he'd wait until you felt ready to tell him..."

"He did?" Cortes asked, looking up at him, Sirus nodded and kissed the human gently.

"He also asked me to take good care of you..he could tell a mile off how much i love you~" here he kissed Cortes again, and snuggled his cheek.

Cortes blushed, great, now his brother knew. --Ah well, people are gonna find out eventually anyway..--

He felt the angels arms wrap around him, and pull him backwards onto the bed.

"Don't be sad Aran.." the angel murmured "i hate seeing you unhappy. I just want to see you smile.."

Cortes kissed him softly and snuggled into his neck "just don't ever go.." he whispered softly "i don't want to be without you...you gave me my life back, if it weren't for you-" he was stopped as Sirus kissed him deeply.

"Speak for yourself cutie, id still be stuck with Oslo if you hadn't shown me the truth about that asshole..."

Cortes smiled, and snuggled into the others arms. His ankle ached a fair bit, but he soon forgot about it as he drifted asleep in the angels arms.

* * *

His brother made plenty of visits over the next few days. He came with Cortes to the hospital, where the doctor announced the fractured bone was healing way faster then normal. He surmised the gene therapy must've had some side effects, increased metabolism, immune system higher then average..

He was able to manage with just the one crutch after that, which made things much easier. The doc estimated it wouldn't be long before it healed completely. Chris meanwhile pestered his brother for a demonstration of his saijin abilities. So Cortes levitated a book and tried to throw it at Chris. Who ducked, sniggering.

His older brother didn't mention the subject of his capture at all after the night in the tavern. He sometimes looked like he wanted to ask, but didn't want to upset Aran.

He wouldn't have much longer to wait, Cortes was about to get another shock...

* * *

Two days after that, Cortes was able to walk with just the support brace on his foot, he was glad to be rid of the crutches, damn things were a pain in the ass.

So when he heard the nazaire was going on a water mission, he volunteered to go, and Sirus naturally followed, as did Chris.

With minor difficulty he clambered up to his chair glad to be back in it, back at work.

He had to stand somewhat awkwardly though, putting more weight on his other foot so the almost-fully-healed one wouldn't hurt. But he managed.

* * *

Soon as the reached the block, Cortes, Wayan, Mahad and Dahlia went off first, of course followed by Sirus and Chris.

"Right, split up, Mahad, you Dahlia and Wayan go that way..." he looked at his brother and Sirus "c'mon pinky and perky" he joked "you're with me"

Chris had to explain the joke to Sirus, who just sniggered.

Cortes semi-limped the way, the ankle was still a little sensitive. But he ignored it. They spotted a roughly hewn cave entrance under some overhanging tree, and decided to go for a poke. It didn't unveil much, just old junk, no sign of water. It turned out to be a dead end, so they went back....

* * *

The other group meanwhile, were having far better luck. After some time exploring underground pathways, they found the source of the water, and it was just a matter of getting an extraction hose down there. Then Mahad spotted a tunnel. So he and Dahlia scuttled off down it. It led above ground, and on the distance, they seen a crashed Sphere ship. They cautiously approached. It was a wreck, and there was nobody in it. Whoever crashed it had to be around somewhere, they'd no doubt used the tunnel to get water.

Dahlia was just about to radio the captain when she heard rustling. She and Mahad whipped round, aiming weapons at a guy in a bedraggled lab coat.

"Please, don't shoot, i crashed here, i need help.."

The two lowered their weapons, Mahad asking "who are you?"

"My name is Tobias Mi'hen, i WAS a scientist on the monolith, but after Oslo's latest experiment went AWOL, i cleared."

"Follow us...our captain is gonna want to talk to you.." Dahlia said, steering him in the direction of the tunnel..

She radioed Cortes to tell him they'd found someone, and he said they were headed back to the nazaire.

Cortes said he was already on his way back.

* * *

Sure enough, he, his brother and Sirus were hanging about by the landing ramp. Cortes had his back to them as they approached.

"Captain,?" Dahlia asked, getting his attention.

"Ah, right, the survivor," Cortes put own the pad he was holding, and turned "Now who the hell are -YOU?!" he suddenly yelled, tensing up.

The guy hesitantly approached Cortes "I didn't think you'd escape-" but he was cut off as Cortes swiped a light blast at him, knocking the scientist away from him.

"Cortes?" Dahlia asked. But Cortes didn't hear her.

"What the Hell makes you think id help YOU?! I'D RATHER LEAVE YOU HERE TO ROT ASSHOLE!!" he was furious "YOU REALLY EXPECT ME TO BELEIVE YOU?! Don't tell me, you ran off because Oslo's experiments were getting too creepy? What happened, your next test subject die on the table? ITS TOO DAMN LATE TO GROW A CONSIENCE NOW, YOU COULDA DONE THAT WHEN THEY FIRST DRAGGED ME THERE!!"

Everyone was silent, gaping at the furious Cortes. He'd never told them anything of his ordeal.

The captain shook his head "you KNEW what Oslo was going to do to me, you knew the pain would be unbearable, that there was a chance your fucking experiment would KILL ME. You knew full well what you were doing was immoral, but you went right on and did it. Don't expect ME to help you..YOU'RE responsible for this.." He felt about to be sick so he turned and ran back up the ramp before he threw up.

"Aran?!" Chris ran after him, worried sick.

Sirus was all set to follow him, but the guy grabbed his sleeve and blinked at him "wait a sec...you helped him escape? So that's how he got out.."

Sirus knocked the hand away "i left BECAUSE i wanted to, and because Aran didn't deserve what you lot were doing to him. You could've tried to help him, but you were too concerned with keeping that bastard Oslo happy..."

* * *

Cortes made it to the stairs up to the next level before his legs gave in and he collapsed to the floor. His head pounded, the pain awful, his whole body was shaking.

"Aran? oh god, are you OK?" he heard his brothers voice, and the next second his sibling was kneeling beside him.

"Why is he here? Why wont this leave me alone?"

Chris hated to ask at such a time, but he had to know "Aran, what did you mean when you said he knew what Oslo was going to do to you? what did he do..." he trailed off. Cortes sleeve had slipped down, revealing the now almost faded bruises. Those had taken so long to fade at all.

--They look like someone grabbed..him..oh god. Aran..-- feeling sick he patted his brothers shoulder gently "what happened Aran?"

Cortes closed his eyes, feeling sick and miserable "it was Oslo, he..." he struggled to form the words "he raped me..repeatedly..because i wouldn't act like a good little lackey..." his voice was bordering on hysterical misery again.

Christophe felt sick. That bastard had hurt his brother, tried to destroy him, make him into a soulless Sphere worker.

"And that guy..KNEW what Oslo was likely to do? And he didn't try to help you at all? even after it happened?" he said his voice laced with fury.

Aran just shook his head and hiccupped, "No, if Sirus hadn't been there..I.." he tailed off. Chris hugged him tightly "Its OK bro..its over now, I'm not letting that jerk on board! Your far more important, someone else can rescue the git!"

He told Cortes to stay there, then he ran back towards the ramp. He had something to do first.

A split second later Cortes realised what his brother was going to do. He was going to beat the guy senseless. --Shit...no more violence, enough's enough...please..-- he thought.

He forced himself to his feet and staggered after him, the pain in his head getting worse...

* * *

Sirus and the scientist were still glaring at each other when Chris came tearing down the ramp, ran up and punched the guy. The angel blinked, he'd never seen anyone so mad before.

Chris grabbed the man by his collar "YOU BASTARD! YOU KNEW OSLO RAPED ARAN AND YOU DIDNT EVEN TRY TO HELP HIM?!"

Dahlia, Mahad and Wayan all winced when they heard this. So THATS what had gone on, the reason Cortes had been so uneasy and upset. Why he'd refused to go to the hospital, and why he'd attempted getting utterly bladdered. He'd been trying to cope, and failing badly...it explained that almost haunted look in his eyes when he seen any reminder of the Sphere.

--Poor Cortes, he must've been in so much pain...-- Wayan shook his head, feeling terrible for Cortes --we were teasing him about being in love with someone, when it must've taken a lot for him to trust someone not to hurt him again...--

He did a double take as someone stumbled down the ramp. It was the captain. He was white as a sheet, and seemed a little delirious, and in pain.

He seen his brother shaking the guy and yelling at him, and he tried to move towards them, but collapsed to the ground.

Wayan ran over, helping him to his feet "captain, you need to lie down.."

"Please...get them to stop..there's been enough violence..." Cortes whispered, his voice faint..

"WE SHOULD JUST LEAVE YOU HERE TO ROT YOU ASSHOLE! HELL, I SHOULD DUMP YOU BACK ON A SPHERE BLOCK FOR HURTING MY LITTLE BROTHER-!"

Cortes flinched, it was all too much for his mind to handle.

"PLEASE STOP IT CHRISTOPHE!" he yelled, and there was a blue glow...

The next second the ground shook as an energy wave spread out, knocking everyone to the floor.

Cortes remained on his feet. He looked at the floor, his breathing ragged.

Sirus scrambled to his feet, running over and putting his arms around him "its OK Aran, calm down..."

Cortes didn't answer, he seemed to be in shock. But at last he looked up at Sirus, then over at his brother.

"just stop...there's been enough..I've had enough.." he stammered out at last. He was shaking, his head hurt, but a lot less now..

"Its OK Aran.." Sirus rubbed the back of his neck gently "don't worry about it. Just try to relax, or you'll pass out again.."

Cortes closed his eyes, letting his head rest on Sirus shoulder, the familiar scent of his loved one comforting through the pain.

"What happened?!" Lena tore down the ramp "i picked up an energy wave..oh.."

Her brother pointed in Cortes general direction, mouthing "ill explain later..."

Sirus was still comforting Cortes, the human seemed reluctant to leave his hold. He was gripping the angels shirt sleeve tightly.

The three who'd been placing bets on Cortes' love interest all copped on simultaneously. it WAS the blonde angel guy. He was holding Cortes, and the captain was staying as close as he could.

--Poor Cortes..-- Mahad thought, watching them --it must've been scary, trying to let someone get so close after going through something like that..--

"What're we gonna do with this jackass?" Chris demanded, indicating the now slightly dizzy scientist.

Sirus glared at the figure "anything so long as it doesn't involve him being ANYWHERE near Aran!"

"Holding cell it is then!" Chris hauled the guy off, and Cortes made a sniffly, relieved noise.

"Any better Aran?" Sirus asked gently. Cortes ran his sleeve across his eyes, and nodded, not looking up, he knew the crew were probably staring at him, the must think him crazy..

"Captain.." he heard Wayan's voice "I'm sorry, we had no idea. We-"

But Cortes shook his head "it doesn't matter.." he managed at last "i didn't want anyone knowing, that's why I didn't tell you. Truthfully, i just wanted to forget it all happened, get my life back.." he took a deep breath, still looking somewhat shaky "i don't want to hear any crap about how i should stay off work or that bullshit. Work is my life...so do me a favour and don't even suggest a vacation.."

Dahlia blinked, then said "righty-o then captain.."

Wayan nodded, and patted Cortes shoulder gently "anything you say captain, just take it easy. We're all glad you're back, we just don't want you making yourself ill with so much stress...ya know, you don't have to hide EVERYTHING from us, just talk a little more often, otherwise you're trying to deal with everything on your own..and nobody can do that.."

Cortes blinked, and looked up at last. The crew were standing there, offering encouraging smiled. Mahad even pulled one of his ridiculous faces. Cortes laughed, and shook his head slightly "y-yeah, i guess you got a point there wayan..point taken."

Sirus smiled, and poked his nose "c'mon, you need some rest, you look drained.."

Surrounded by his crew, Cortes managed to stumble back up the ramp. Sirus got him to his room, and went to find some blankets. But when he sat down Cortes sat up, and snuggled into his arms. So the angel wrapped the both up in the blankets, and held his beloved Aran in his arms. They fell asleep sat up like this, snugly wrapped in the blankets.

Well, Cortes slept, Sirus just let his mind wander, thinking about his precious Aran. He really did love him dearly, and wanted all the upsetting reminders about what he'd been through to end. He ran his fingers through the humans hair, blushing as the human made a contented little noise and snuggled up even closer.

--You're so cute Aran, and you don't even realise it...-- he held the human close, keeping an eye on him as he slept.

* * *

Im alive, just very tired lately -yawwwn- gweeh...

Random fact: I thought a Xenophobe (phobic of foriegn culture an' stuff)was someone with an unnatural fear of copy machines. Apprently thats XEROX. XD WHoops.


	9. Time Together

"So I was right?" Cheng said "that blonde guy does fancy Cortes?"

Mahad nodded "yeah, he seems to absolutely adore him, I guess while he was on the monolith, he got attached to him, hence why he ran away with him.."

"Now you know, quit teasing him about it.." Lena said "I think he deserves that much at least.."

Mahad and Dahlia fidgeted "yeah.." they admitted.

Wayan shrugged "I kind of figured they got on, but even I didn't guess it was him. It can't have been easy for Cortes to have someone so near, we shouldn't been winding him up about it. SO if we keep our traps shut, hopefully he wont throw things at us.."

"Agreed.." all three said, and Lena sniggered.

* * *

Cortes drifted awake, and was greeted by a kiss from the angel.

"How're you feeling love?" he asked. Cortes sighed "better, I shouldn't have lost my temper like that...getting away from Oslo isn't easy, we both know that. I just...didn't want to see those nightmares again. I was scared.."

Sirus kissed his cheek softly "its alright love, everyone understands...they're all worried about you. Your crew obviously loves you, as do I. so very much.." here he kissed the human again, rubbing the back of his neck, which he knew was a weak spot for the human.

They fell back onto the bed, wrapped up in the blankets and each other. Cortes felt the other starting on undoing his uniform, and he kissed him eagerly, everything else forgotten..

He felt the light touch skitter across his skin and the shiver run up his back. Which was followed by another, more intense, as his lovers hand slipped beneath his waistband...

A knock on the door interrupted the potential "private" time, and the lovers pulled apart, blushing slightly, and a little out of breath. They reluctantly disentangled themselves, with Cortes wrapping the blanket around his shoulders so whoever it was wouldn't notice the half-unbuttoned clothing.

Grumbling, Cortes told whoever it was to come in.

"Hey bro', feeling any better?" it was Chris.

Cortes managed an honest smile and a nod "yeah...I think so.." he sighed "thanks Christophe.."

His brother ruffled the captains already crumpled hair "no worries Aran, im just glad you're feeling better...were gonna dump the guy on some other block-"

But Cortes shook his head "no...I cant do that...I know I got mad earlier, but when I think about it...anyone who runs away from the sphere is the same as me. As any rebel. So.."

"You're gonna let him stay?" Chris asked, in disbelief. Cortes nodded, though he looked nervous "I always promised I wouldn't let my own personal vendettas interfere with work..and im not gonna start now.."

Chris nodded, then added calmly "your hairs sticking up Aran.."

Corte twitched, seeing the cheeky grin on Chris' face. "Shaddap!" he snapped, whacking him upside the head. Chris sniggered and legged it to the door, only pausing long enough to say "were nearly at puerto angel, so try to wait until we dock before you incapacitate my brother!" this was directed at Sirus, who went red.

"FUCK OFF CHRISTOPHE!" Aran yelled at his brother. Chris ran off, laughing loudly.

"Goit..." Cortes grumbled. Sirus chuckled "damn,i don't want to wait..."

Corte kissed him "mmh..straight to home it is then~" he stated, blushing, but looking more cheerful then before.

* * *

A few minutes later the felt the ship judder slightly as it docked.

"You coming captain?" Wayan called from outside the door.

Cortes sighed "Yeah, im just gonna sort out a few bits of work, then thats it for the next WEEK!"

Wayan laughed "see ya in the tavern then!" he called as he left. He hadn't realised Sirus was still with the captain until he disembarked.

--Wait...they're not gonna..are they-?! he snickered --well it IS his ship, so if he wants to get up close and personal on there, its up to him...-- he made sure he shut the door behind him when he got off, so nobody would walk in on them like he almost had.

Cortes sighed, and did honestly do some of the paperwork, before his attention span cut off. Because Sirus wrapped his arms around him from behind and kissed his cheek. he couldn't resist, Cortes had been standing at the table, scribbling on various bit sof paper. And he had a very nice butt...

Cortes barely had time to turn round then they began where they left off. He swept the papers aside, and let the other sit him on the table, keeping him as close as possible.

"Mmm..now...where were we..?" the angel murmured, nuzzling his neck while expertly undoing the captains' uniform. Jacket and belt were discarded in an instant, and next on the list was the humans sweater and trousers. In one smooth motion, the white polo neck was slipped off, and he kissed the human before he had time to react. Cortes made a pleased little sound when the angel rubbed the back of his neck, then nuzzled his throat, teasing a little.

"Mm, I love you Aran~" he murmured, Cortes blushed and kissed him, biting back a moan as he felt the others hand undoing his trousers, and slipping beneath the fabric. The angels cool touch a contrast to the heat of the humans skin..

"You're burning up Aran~" the angel teased, Cortes just kissed him hungrily "don't be a tease, damn it.." he growled mock-angrily...and was then cut off by a deep kiss from the angel.

"Ahh~" he arched his back as the angels other hand slipped down his back, pushing the waistband aside again...Somehow diverting some of his attention, he manage to focus long enough to assist the angel in making sure the trousers and etc. weren't in the way any more. And thus they joined the rest of the varied articles of clothing here and there on the desk and floor..

"Mm~ so cute Aran~" Sirus murmured, smiling as his lover blushed, then kissing him and at the same time moving his hands downwards again.

"S-speak for yourself.." the human managed to utter, wrapping his arms around the blondes shoulders, longing to be as close as possible, then they began..

* * *

"Mhh..." Cortes closed his eyes and leant against his other half, the intensity of their finish still reverberating through him. He felt a mix of emotions. Embarrassment because they'd not gotten any further then the desk, and a somewhat guilty pelasure..that they hadn't made it any further then the desk.

"Heh...I think we may need to clean the desk love.." Sirus joked. Cortes shrugged lazily "mmh...I guess so" he fought the urge to laugh, who was gonna know?

"Heh, I don't think I really care what anyone thinks.." he grinned cheekily "its my cabin, and if I feel like doing it on the table, I damn well will~"

"Of course Aran~" the angel laughed "anything for you~"

Cortes blushed and kept his arms locked around the others middle. He looked at the articles of clothing scattered here and there and blushed guilty. He probably wouldn't be able to ever hold a meeting in here again without getting the urge to laugh.

Sirus watched his lovers expressions and smiled, Cortes was so cute when he smiled. He seemed a very serious person, often weighed down by the seriousness of his work. But he'd been lucky enough to see the rare moments when Cortes let his guard down. His crew seemed to know little about him as a person, he juts seemed cold and distant, things like favourite food, or any hobbies, they had no clue.

If they knew how different Cortes was when it was just him and his angel love, thed be surprised. Certainly Sirus was so far surprised by just how much energy the human had.~ Not that he minded, he loved being around Cortes, ever since he'd met him heed wanted him around. He ran his hand over the humans back, twining the strands of long ginger hair around his fingers. In one tug he pulled the ponytail free, watching how the light glinted off the strands of hair as it came free from the elastic.

Time didn't seem to matter, this was just a perfect peaceful moment, no work stress for Aran, no interruptions, danger, alarms or nosy crew. Just them.

Cortes at last looked up, and they shared one last lingering kiss before reluctantly deciding to go to the tavern, before anyone got suspicious. They got re-dressed, and Cortes scooped up all the papers, and signed the last few while Sirus cleaned the table quickly. Then, satisfied nobody would be any the wiser, they left.

* * *

"Where's the captain?" dahlia asked.

Wayan blinked "he was grumbling about finishing the paperwork so he wouldn't have to do it tomorrow.."

"Yeah but where's Blondie?" Mahad snickered "how do we know those two aren't up to something cheeky.."

Something hit him on the head, HARD.

"Because you nosy little goit, I had to finish this LOT" Cortes waved the large sheaf of papers at Mahad. "you have no idea how far behind I was..."

Mahad glowered at Cortes, then looked at Sirus, who appeared to be constraining a grin. He caught mahads glance and pulled a cheeky "i-know-somethin-you-dont!" face at the teenager.

--Cheeky git..-- Mahad thought, but he got the feeling his suspicions were correct, they HAD been up to something..

Dahlia blinked, noticing just now that the captain had his hair down. As long as she and most the crew had known him, he'd never worn it down. It looked totally different. Free from his ponytail, it fell down his back, and oddly enough, it suited him pretty well.

Cortes seemed to have forgotten the hair down thing. When he went to the bar to get the drinks, people seemed to do a double take when he went past. It was either the hair down or the fact he was Smiling, and cheerful. Both had never been seen in public before.

Sirus watched his love at the bar, and taking advantage of his system capabilities, latched onto the sound from the bar area only.

Listening to his lovers voice, he tuned in on a small huddle of woman sitting at the bar.

"'Ey look who's just popped up"

"Waheyy~ now there a sight id like to see every morning."

"Tell me about it, ive never seen him with the hair down, very nice~ and that smile!"

"I know...d'ya think he's still single? I heard rumours he was seen with someone a few days ago.."

"Who? damn they're lucky, the man's got a nice ass~"

As Cortes took the tray of drinks and turned to go back, he caught the women staring conspiratorially at him and giggling. He offered them a fleeting smile, which dissolved them into giggling schoolgirls practically, then it was off to where his beloved angel sat. He'd heard snippets of their conversation, and had tried to keep himself from blurting exactly what his "relationship" status was. But he kept his mouth shut, it was more fun winding people up making them guess.

Sirus disengaged the audio filter and sat back in his chair, smiling at Aran as he reappeared. --sorry ladies, this cuties mine~-- he thought happily.

Cortes sat back down, as close to Sirus as he could. He rested his chin on his hands, listening to everyone talking.

He turned out for a while, until he heard Kharzem prison being mentioned. And the problem with finding it.

Sirus blinked, "Kharzem did you say?" Wayan nodded "that's where they're keeping the kids mother. But we have no idea how to get there.."

Sirus looked bemused "all you had to do was ASK." he said "I have the co-ordinates all the sphere prisons stored in memory, I visited them with Oslo on many occasions."

"You..you have the co-ordinates gto the prison? for real?!" Lena squeaked, barely able to believe it.

Sirus nodded, and got a tackle hug from the young girl.

"Yay, we can go find mom!" she cheered, sitting back down by her brother. Sirus smiled "like I said, I know where all the prisons are, as well as info about the sphere security systems..."

"Whoa.." Wayan stared at him "No wonder Oslo was pissed when you ran away. Talk about security risk.."

Sirus sniggered "serves him right the bald ugly git" he shook his head, laughing.

--He ran away from the sphere, because he didn't want to be separated from Cortes..-- Lena thought, watching them --that's so sweet..--

* * *

Back on the monolith, di-wan was report to Oslo about the mission failure.

"And what's more- That bastard pirate is back with his lot, AND that robotic lackey of yours is with him. It would appear he's broken his programming, somehow that pirate is responsible."

"I didn't expect he could ever crack the code restraints I had on him, I'll make sure he's destroyed if we ever cross paths again.."

* * *

They began planning the Kharzem mission right away. Spending long hours at a computer with Cheng, Sirus was able to dredge the co-ordinates out of his long-term memory, and some other useful data.

Mahad and Lena had planned to go on by themselves, but got a surprise when Cortes told them he was going with them.

When asked why, he simply told them he had a bone to pick with Oslo. They didn't dare ask any further.

Cortes began spending a lot of time out in the area by the lighthouse. Lena figured he was still trying to master the saijin ability. He began sneaking off every moment he got...

One evening, when Wayan finally found him. He came across the captain lying out in the grass, he was asleep. It was growing darker with each passing minute, and the air was getting colder. What was he doing out there?!

Cortes bolted awake when shaken. he blinked sleepily at Wayan "wassamatter?"

"The meeting was 3 hours ago captain, we were worried when you didn't show up....then Lena mentioned all this practice business of yours..ive been looking all over for you. You'll catch cold sleeping out here..."

Cortes sighed, rubbing the back of his neck and wincing as it clicked into place "ah, well....the sleeping was a accident, last I recall I was standing up, then boom!"

Wayan frowned "Captain you're going to wear yourself out, you're not indestrucable, even if you do heal fast!"

Cortes sighed, staring out at the sky "sorry...guess I got carried away...I want to kick that bastards ass when we get to Kharzem.."

"Its not worth nearly killing yourself over Cortes.." Wayan sighed "focus is one thing, but obsession is another...just be careful.."

Cortes just sighed softly again "yeah.....I know...." he at long last. He seemed withdrawn again. Perhaps the training was all a plot to distract him from the base fact; he could well end up coming face to face with his tormentor again. It had taken him so long to get over what had happened.

After Wayan left, he sat there a little longer, wondering would he really be alright with going on this mission? he didn't know...

A gust of wind distracted him from his thoughts, an he shivered. A second later a blanket was draped over his shoulders. He blinked, looking up at a familiar face.

"How did you find me?" he asked.

Sirus smiled "Wayan told me what you've been up to..theyre all worried about you Cortes. Seeing Oslo again..what if it brings back the nightmares.."

Cortes sighed, then looked at the figure as he sat next to him "Then ill need you to be with me when I sleep.." he said with a faint smile "ever since...that little occasion on the naaire..i haven't had a single nightmare. As long as you're there..."

"Anything for you love~" the angel answered, then pulled Cortes onto his lap, wrapping his arms around him. "You're like a drug Aran. So damn addicting. I hate being apart from you.." he nuzzled the captains neck and kissed him gently. Cortes made a happy little noise and nuzzled his nose.

"You're not the only one.." he smiled softly "I cant begin to think what id do without you here...you're the one thing that stopped me going insane through what Oslo did.." he leant against him "I cant thank you enough.."

He squeaked in surprise as he felt a hand swiftly feel his butt.

Sirus tried to look innocent "sorry Aran~ but in my defence, you have a nice rear~"

Cortes sniggered, then cracked up laughing, "You are an IDIOT!" he laughed, before kissing him again.

They over balanced and fell back onto the grassy hill.

There they got quite happily tangled in the blankets..

They lay there, not saying anything, just cosying up to each other, wrapped in the soft blanket. And as often happened, Cortes dozed off in his lovers arms.

After making sure Cortes was fully asleep, sirus wrapped him up, scooped him up in his arms, and spread his wings, flying over the rooftops to where Cortes apartment was.

There he somehow got the door open, and gently put Cortes down on the bed. The human shifted in his sleep, but didn't wake. Planting a tender kiss on his cheek, the angel snuck over to the portable laptop Cheng had leant him. There he began the process of connecting himself to it so he could check the system files.

He was still sitting there as daylight streamed in. But at last it was done. He closed the backup program down, and ejected what looked like a memory chip from the machine. --Everything's on there...this is the only chip I have, no doubt Oslo has destroyed the rest. Where can I keep it where I know it'll be sae...-- then an idea occurred...

He left a note for his beloved Aran, and snuck out. He had an idea...

* * *

Cortes blinked as he finally drifted awake, where was he? A quick check told him he was back in bed, all he could remember was goofing about out in the field with the angel...

He was just drifting to complete awkeness..when the door opened. Sirus edged in, noticed Cortes was awake and smiled.

"Hey, where'd you go?" Cortes asked, kissing the angel as he sat down on the bed.

"Mm~ I went to make a little something.." he held out a box to Cortes "here. Take it.."

Cortes blinked, and gently took the plush box. Opening it his eyes widened as he looked at what was in it. Nestled in the box was a locket necklace. It was just over an inch and a half in height, an inch wide. It had been crafted from silvery metal, with his initials "A.C" engraved on it.

"Its wonderful, did you do this yourself?" he said at last. Sirus smiled and nodded.

"There are advantages to being mechanical, precision engraving for one!"

He took the pendant from its box, and carefully placed it around his lovers neck. He sat back, and smiled.

"Perfect" he said, and kissed Cortes.

Cortes blushed and kissed him back "thank you" he said softly "its lovely!" he nuzzled his lovers cheek gently.

"It's just a little memento Aran, so I'll never forget just how much you mean to me!"

Cortes blushed and they snuggled up close. He did give thought to what the angel had said, but figured he'd just gotten his words mixed up.

"By the way. I spoke to Wayan,, were leaving for Kharzem tomorrow. So we need to get ready.." he told the human at last.

Cortes sighed and nodded, his stomach in knots.

"You don't have to do this love...you could just stay on the nazaire with everyone else.."

Cortes shook his head "no, I HAVE to come with you, I want to stop seeing nightmares once and for all.."

Sirus nodded "I thought as much, so im coming with you!"

Cortes blinked "say what?" he frowned, looking at his lover "but you'll be in even more danger, Oslo will KILL you if he sees you!"

"I know Aran sweetie, but...I cant bear not to be with you, I wont leave you!"

Cortes sighed, and nodded. Then he looked up, an d he wore a look of relief on his face "im glad.." he whispered softly.

Sirus smiled, glad Aran was OK with it, and they snuggled up close to each other, sharing a sweet kiss...

The rest of that day Cortes was jumpier then a whippet with a bum full of dynamite. He also kept spacing out, and had to be continuously prodded during the meeting. His crew noticed the nerves and wondered if it was really a good idea for Cortes to be going. But they all knew he'd ignore them, if he was anything, he was STUBBORN.

* * *

After he meeting he went off on an errand, and Sirus wondered what it was. He got his answer when Cortes presented him with his new un iform. It was similar to Cortes' own, with a black polo neck, and green jacket and trousers with a fur lining and collar.

"How does it look?" he asked Cortes, and then human looked up from the papers he was reading. He smiled, blushing "you look amazing.." he murmured.

Sirus smiled and kissed him deeply "thank you sweetie.. he said softly "I LOVE it!"

* * *

The morning of the attack, Cortes didn't feel like eating at all, much to Sirus worry. He fretted over his human lover, administering hugs and kisses all morning, until the time came for them to go.

As he and Sirus climbed into the Hyperion, he felt another jolt in his stomach. He shifted, biting his lip.

From the passenger seat, Lena notice the captains fidgety mood. Like everyone else, she wondered if it was safe for Cortes to be going...

"Lets go.." Mahad said at last. As the engines fired, and the took off, Cortes felt a hand clasp his. He broke out of his trance and looked at Sirus. The angel offered him a gentle smile, and squeezed his hand again. Cortes finally seemed to relax a little and smiled.

The angel leaned close, tucking astray strand of his lovers hair behind his ear "don't worry Aran, I wont let him hurt you 3~"

Cortes blushed faintly and smiled, then he nodded "gotcha.." he managed at last, squeezing the others hand in return.

"Good~" Sirus kissed him quickly and sat back in the seat, looking out the window..

Cortes did the same, aware he was blushing faintly.

Lena was smiling, the two together were so cute.

Mahad pulled a face and shook his head, but like his sister, he was glad to see Cortes looking happy after what he'd been through..

Cortes closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. It was now or never, he had to face the source of the nightmares, the cause of his pain. But he felt a certain comfort in knowing he wouldn't be doing it on his own, the sensation of the angels hand holding his own chased away some of the fear..

The flew onwards towards Kharzem, the nazaire following behind. Ready for the battle to end all..

* * *

I LIVE! XD But my big desky machine..im afraid, might be goign dead on me.

Random Fact: BWAAHHH! (Raving Rabbids is funny!)


	10. Cant Be Forgotten

The cube prison rose out of the clouds like a demonic Rubik's cube. Cortes unconsciously clenched his lovers hand tighter. Oslo was bound to be here, he must've known they'd try to get Mila out..

They were barely in there 5 seconds then sphere patrollers swooped out of nowhere and began chasing them. Mahad went into umber crazy stunt mode to shake most of them off. But one landed a fatal shot before it burned out and crashed.

"Hold on tight folks! Mahad yelled, as he skidded the craft in a bone juddering landing on one of the cubes. They'd barely scrambled out when they noticed the block above them was descending. They had hardly any time at all to get off, with Lena carrying Mahad and levitating them, and Sirus scooping Cortes up in his arms and flying him to safety.

They landed on the block said she could sense her mother was in. And the entrance opened automatically. Even though she knew Oslo was behind it, Lena jumped down, followed by the others. An anti-saijin barrier blocked their way, but Mahad soon dealt with it, and they at last managed to open the cell.

Mila had sensed something from the confines of her cell, a familiar feeling. Then he cell opened, and she was lifted to the surface. Blinking in the blinding light she heard a familiar cry:

"MOM!" it was Lena. The next second she was hugged tightly by her children.

"How much I've missed you my beloved Mahad and Lena. Are you alright?"

Lena nodded. Mahad smiled "were here to get you outta here mom!"

"I'm so glad to see you again, I told you we wouldn't be apart for long didn't I?" she smiled. Then she noticed movement some way behind the children. Two others were with them.

One a blonde with metal wings, the other a ginger haired man wearing a pirate uniform.

--He's a saijin...-- she sensed instinctively.

"Who're your friends?" she asked.

Lena smiled "they're pirates! Well one is an ex-sphere..."

"The angels Sirus, and the one spacing out is Captain Cortes!" Mahad introduced with a snigger. Cortes blinked, snapping out of it. He and Sirus turned to greet the children's mother.

Cortes was about to as how they were going to get her out of the restraints when he felt a feeling of cold dread run through him.

"Aran?" Sirus asked.

Cortes had gone white as a sheet and collapsed to his knees. He was shaking slightly.

"Its HIM, we have to Run, has coming!!" Cortes said sharply. Lena blinked, she could sense it too, Oslo.

"Well well if it isn't the lab rat and the traitor..." a cold voice said as Cortes staggered to his feet.

They all looked up, glaring at Oslo. Cortes hands were clenched so tightly they were bleeding. He glared at Oslo, his tormentor, fighting back the bad memories.

"You...bastard..." Cortes hissed, stepping forward.

Oslo laughed "that's charming. I give you abilities many would die for. And you repay me b y running away? An ingrate like you should just die, your little more then trash to me!"

Words that triggered the flashbacks. Being forced onto the bed, the unbearable pain. Strapped to a table while that doctor changed his genetic structure..

Mila's eyes widened as Cortes began to glow a bright blue aura. --How, he doesn't seem fully trained. And there's no light. How did he..?--

Cortes flung the blast at Oslo, he swatted it aside, but not without some effort.

"Not bad, you've improved since the lab tested you-"

"SHUT UP OSLO!" Mahad yelled.

Oslo just laughed, he looked at Sirus, who was standing protectively in front of Cortes, "as for YOU, I never thought you'd have the audacity to break your programming.."

Sirus just laughed coldly "Oslo, id broken it LONG before you kidnapped Cortes! You think I conducted all those interviews with the patients and test subjects because I wanted to "torture them" the way you did? FUCK NO. I made them tell me everything about the REAL world, not the delusion you live in. Aran was the final key to getting out! You lost control of me a long time ago!"

Oslo glared furiously at him "so you took a liking to that bastard pirate did you? Humph, well at least you should be grateful I went to the trouble of "breaking" him in for you-"

Another shot, this time from Sirus, and from the plasma gun he'd had hidden in his side pouch. With his unerring accuracy, the shot actually grazed Oslo's face, leaving a bleeding cut.

Oslo laughed "Temper, temper...you're just upset I screwed that little pirate slut you're so fond of.."

Cortes could feel the sickness rising. It was too much...he felt the power build up again, and with an angry cry, he flung the blast at the brigs that had followed Oslo in a formed semi circle to each side. The blast took out a chunk of the brigs, as well as a large portion of the wall.

Cortes glared at Oslo, he could hear his blood pounding in his ears, fury was the catalyst for his power, and he'd reached breaking point now.

"And YOURE just pissed I got away, and that no matter how many times you pulled your little stunt, I wouldn't give in!" he laughed coldly "so you Lose OSLO!"

The kids and Mila had born witness to this whole conversation, and Mila was shocked by the captains power. She could sense his rage, fury...fear, sadness.

Oslo has hurt him, he MADE him into a saijin. So many emotions, it was tearing him apart, confronting Oslo was terrifying to him..

--That poor man, he must've been in so much pain....this is unforgivable Oslo, you're going down!--

Oslo shook his head and sighed "such a pity to have to kill you both, but I cant abide disobedience..."

More brigs marched in, but these were different. Oslo had drained Mila's saijin power to fuel them, and now she was getting her own back. Oslo ordered them to attack, but they didn't even get a shot off, when she pulled the power from them, ripping them apart and blowing the roof of the cell clean off.

During the aftermath she managed to free herself from the chains binding her to the chair, and sat down on the floor with a bump.

Oslo coughed and swatted the smoke away from his face. He seen Mila transferring the last of her power to Lena, and she looked over, her eyes full of fury.

She air-lifted her mother and brother to safety, and even Cortes and Sirus when they made to stay with her.

"This is MY fight!" she announced, glaring at Oslo. "im going to stop you!"

Standing a cell block some way away Cortes watched with worry. Then he reached for his walkie-talkie "we need to get out of here-"

"How?" Mahad panicked "the ships busted, and we got company!!" eh pointed at some sphere patrollers whizzing towards them.

"Well well, all the flies have landed in a convenient swatting spot!" a voice issued from the loudspeaker on the main patroller.

"Di-Wan!" Cortes snarled, glaring at the ship as it approached. He seen the canons charging up to fire, and he had a split second to react, a shield flaring up just as she fired. The shots pinged harmlessly off and she scowled.

--So the bastards improved since he got away. Still no matter, he cant be that tough..theres little light in here!--

She hit the full speed, firing all the while.

Cortes winced, but fuelled more energy into reflecting the shots. He seen the ship charging closer and knew what she was trying.

"EVERYBODY GET BACK!" he shouted. He sensed them running away just as the ship zoomed up to where he stood.

WHAM.

Mila opened her eyes hesitantly and gaped at what she saw. The pirate captain was keeping the ship at bay using the shield. It was straining him to do it, he was wincing in pain.

He could feel the ship pushing against his power, the sheer power causing vibrations that felt like they were jolting through his bones. He couldn't hold out for much longer..

Di-wan laughed "impressive, for a lab rat! but try beat THIS!" She hit a button on her panel, and a specially designed frequency canon fired off, the air rippling around them.

Mila and Mahad felt a brief pain in their head, but it was Sirus the wave was aimed for. It felt like a ton of bricks had hit him, the system couldn't take it, shutdown was the only option...

Cortes seen the angel stagger. Then collapse. And the fury rose up again.

"GO TO HELL BITCH!" he shouted hoarsely, and felt a surge of power like neon before, as if all the hatred he felt for Oslo and his ilk was in a tangible form. Hew pushed the ship back, emitting a wide wave of bright blue energy. The ships it hit disintegrated on contact, and di-wans ship was flung into a blazing heap several blocks away.

Cortes staggered and slumped to his knees. he was white as a sheet, gasping for breath. He turned and crawled over to Sirus, shaking his shoulder. NO response.

"What's the matter?" Mila asked. Cortes shook his head "im guessing it must've been anEMP or something, she wanted to make sure he wouldn't be a threat. It knocks electronics offline for awhile..."

Meanwhile, Lena was going head to head with Oslo. and winning. The she seen the Monolith chasing the Nazaire.

Cortes seen it too, and he closed his eyes, sending telepathic message to Lena:

--Destroy it Lena, its Oslo's flagship, destroy it!--

--But, the you'll never be able to return to- --

--I KNOW! but this has to be done, I don't want that technology used to make anyone else suffer! DO IT NOW--

Seconds later he watched the Monolith go up in flames, seeing his ship soar away.

Then it sunk in, he would never be his old self again. He was stuck as a saijin forever...

He hung his head, struggling not to get upset. It had to be done, that's what he told himself. But he still felt a selfish desire to be his old self again..

"Whaa-?! she blew it up?!" Mahad squawked, looking at Cortes "that was your only chance to-"

"I KNOW Mahad.." Cortes choke out at last "I TOLD her to do it...I wanted to see oslos torture of innocent people end...no mater what the price to me.."

Mahad blinked, hearing the pained tone in the captains voice. He wouldn't look up, just stared down at his hands which where clenched in his lap.

Things after that passed in a blur for Cortes, Lena returned to them, Oslo was defeated, Di-Wan dealt with. The Monolith was gone, and all the evil it held.

The Nazaire circled round, picking them all up. Cortes followed after his angel lover, who he insisted be taken to his private cabin room.

While Mila was re-united with her kids, Cortes was by Sirus' side, waiting for him to awaken..

He was almost asleep in his chair when the angel finally stirred.

"Mnnh..where am I?" he asked sitting up, blinking blearily at Cortes.

"You're in my cabin, on the ship, don't you remember?" Cortes asked.

Sirus shook his head, "no...who are you? do I know you?"

At these words Cortes felt like someone hand stabbed a knife into his chest and twisted it. he didn't remember him. No..why?!

Struggling to keep a calm face, eh somehow forced a smile "im..teh captain of this ship...you just rest here, I'll send the Vector to take a look..at..you.."

He got up hastily and darted out of the room. Outside in the empty corridor, he put a hand to his mouth, fighting back the wave of sickness and panic. His lover...no longer knew him. This couldn't be happening. He felt a dampness son his hand, and taking it away from his face he noticed the droplet. Then another splashed onto his sleeve, and another...

He slumped against the wall, crying silently for several minutes. He felt his legs give way and he slumped to the floor, drawing his knees up to his chest, sniffling. Everything he'd fought for. Had been so he could live with the person he loved for evermore. Now the one reason he had didn't know him..

-"Cortes? What's the matter? What're you doing down there?" it was the Vector's voice.

Cortes just made an indeterminate noise, and didn't look up. He felt a hand alight on his shoulder, and he at last looked up at the Vector.

"Goodness me Captain, what's wrong, you're upset? Isn't Sirus OK?"

Cortes shook his head "n-no vector...not entirely..he..doesnt remember any of it...nothing...of this ship..of me...of us.."

Vector knew now why Cortes looked so heartbroken. He'd endured so much misery and pain, this must feel like a punch in the gut.

"We'll find a way to sort things out captain-"

"But what if we cant Vector?! I knows..its stupid but..." he scrambled to his feet, his hair in his eyes "I don't want to be without him!"

"Captain, calm down-"

"I DONT WANT TO CALM DOWN, JUST LEAVE ME BE!" Cortes shouted, tearing away barging out the door that led to the outer deck.

The Vector sighed, poor Cortes.

He opened the door to the room where Sirus was, and went to have a chat with him..

* * *

Cortes stumbled outside, the cool evening air tugging at the loose strands of hair that floated about his face. He staggered along, wiping his eyes with his sleeve, struggling to calm down.

He stumbled round a corner, realising too late that the kids and their mother were out there. They looked up as he halted not far behind them, looking fidgety.

"Hey Cortes you OK?" Mahad asked cheerfully. Cortes just stared at him, but couldn't get himself to talk, he just shook his head blankly.

Noticing his obvious distress, Lena went over, patting his arm "what's wrong? Is Sirus hurt?" knowing that was the one thing close to Cortes heart.

"He...doesn't remember.." Cortes mumbled, almost in a trance.

"Doesn't remember what?" Mahad asked. Cortes just shook his head again, unable to speak, the pain stopped him..

"Has he lost...all memory of you?" Mila asked at last. She got a miserable nod in confirmation.

"Everything. The ship. The base...none of it.." he choke out, staring bleakly at the floor.

The three looked worriedly at each other, Lena and Mahad had never seen Cortes so down before, not even after they'd first found out about the assaults. He seemed like a zombie, like he was missing a vital part of him.

"There must be a way to make him remember? what about all those photographs you guys took, that must remind him? Or something like that..."

Cortes shook his head, his tousled hair overshadowing his eyes, hiding the pain in them.

"Cortes.." Lena gave him a gentle hug, to try make him feel better. But Cortes seemed unresponsive to anything they said, it was painful to see...

* * *

"Who was that man before?" Sirus asked the Vector "he seemed, sad when I spoke to him.."

The Vector sighed "It's a long story, so don't fidget..." he started telling Sirus everything that had happened, how Cortes had met him, the things the human and angel had done together, the fact they were in love...everything.

Sirus took it all in. But he didn't recall any of it...except...he got a funny feeling in his system core when he thought about the ginger haired man. A feeling of..fondness? concern?

He looked around the room, and spied a pile of papers on the desk...

He blinked, there was a fuzzy memory. Of him, and that man. And the table...he turned bright red, just Knowing it was something...personal.

Vector blinked, looking from Sirus to the table, then back to the angel again. And copped on.

"Good grief, you two were up to something in here weren't you, some time before?" he asked. Sirus blinked, shaking his head to clear it.

"I..dont know. I think so.."

* * *

Out on the desk Cortes was still unresponsive, and Mahad tried to think of something. Then he spotted the locket.

"Hey, when'd ya get THAT?" he asked. Cortes blinked "just...before we left he...made it for me.."

"Its so pretty..whats inside it?" Lena asked.

"I don't know.." Cortes took it off, his shaky hands fumbling with the catch. Inside, was nestled a computer chip, a very fancy looking one.

"Whassat for?" Mahad asked "looks like a memory chip from Cheng's laptop, only better-"

He stopped as Cortes suddenly seemed to perk up. He looked at the chip, a smile dawning on his face.

"A memory chip, that's it! THATS why he gave it to me. What he said makes sense now.."

"Cortes what're you on about?" Mahad asked, baffled.

"When he gave it to me he distinctly said "Its just a little memento Aran, so I'll never forget just how much you mean to me", I thought he just got his words muddled up but-"

"But he must've KNOWN Oslo would take measures against him, and given his backup chip to someone he knew itd be safe with!" Lena added.

Cortes nodded, feeling tears of relief well up, he turned and ran towards the door again "ive got to find the Vector!"

The kids and their mother ran after him..

* * *

Cortes tore into the cabin, tripped and landed on his face.

"Spectacular captain," the Vector remarked as Cortes stood up, "what's next, a swan dive?"

Cortes barged past him, waving the chip at Sirus, "this is yours, its a mem chip, you need to use it!"

Sirus blinked and took the chip from him "this is one of my system chips. How did you-?"

"You gave it to me. In case this happened!" Cortes responded, struggling to keep the fresh wave of relief at bay. "trust me. You gave it to me, in this.."

He placed the locket in the angels hands. The blonde clutched it tightly, looking wordlessly from the chip to Cortes.

"This will, require me to go into minimal power mode to unload the data and replace the old files with these.." he flushed slightly "would you mind..staying here with me, until then? I want to talk to you.."

Cortes nodded, unable to speak. He sat down on the beside Sirus, and the angel smiled at him, reaching a hand out and brushing the red mark on Cortes forehead where he'd hit the floor.

Cortes blushed at the contact, and took the hand. The angel held it, and dint let go, so much familiarity was..connected to this man somehow. He had to find out...

"All right, clear off!" Vector announced, shooing himself and Mila and the kids out. "Lets give 'em some privacy, they'll no doubt want it!"

* * *

It seemed to take forever. Cortes was starting to drop off to sleep. The angel was curled up on the bed, he appeared to be sleeping, but he told Cortes that normal for minimal operation mode. He'd asked Cortes various questions, about them, about him. He'd even asked if they'd had an occurrence involving the table.

Cortes had gone bright red and started laughing. In the end he said it was best he get that info from the chip.

Now the angel was asleep, restoring his memory data. Cortes watched him sleep, feeling an ache in his chest. He hoped it would work, he couldn't imagine life without Sirus with him, not now, not ever.

He propped his chin up on his hands and watched his lover sleeping. He looked so sweet....

Looking around him to make sure he was alone, he leaned close and kissed the angels cheek gently.

Then he fell asleep, half seated on the chair, his upper half resting on the bed, close to the other...

* * *

Whee, more fic! ^^

Random Fact: I just ate a HUGE pizza =D!


	11. Bad Reaction

_System boot up check: 100%._

_All files clear from corruption._

_New files successfully installed, system set back to pre determined date. Check with maintenance for further details._

Sirus yawned and stretched, sitting up. The new files were done. Cautiously he began viewing them all. Memories of conversations, pictures, everything began slotting into his memory timeline. then it was done. He'd reviewed his life up till now. He remembered everything about Aran, how much his lover had been through, the first time the human had let him have him. The humans sweet innocent nature, that sensitive spot on the back of his neck..

--Aran? Where's Aran?!-- he panicked. And heard a muffled snore. Blinking he looked down, and seen the man of his dreams, and memories, asleep on the bed.

--Di-wans weapon upset my system..-- he checked the system logs from before the mem chip installation. --You found my gift for you Aran.....thank you sweetie..--

The mem chip had overridden his old files, so while he had all his old knowledge back, he'd forgotten the whole kharzhem incident, bar what little info the sys repair log had caught.

He pulled the human the rest of the way onto the bed, holding him close. Aran's face was flushed, he looked like he'd been crying..

--I'm sorry love...you must've felt awful. Ill make it up to you..--

He sat on the bed, just watching Aran sleep..

He heard the door open, and looked up. Vector stuck his head in, seen he was awake and stepped in.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

Sirus looked up at him and smiled "I'm fine..."

Vector smiled, and indicated the sleeping Cortes "He hasn't left you since you went into standby. He hasn't even had any food or anything, he's just been fidgeting, waiting for you to wake up.."

Sirus looked down at the sleeping human and smiled, blushing faintly "Aran you silly.." he said a mock-scolding tone, but he felt so happy Cortes had stayed by him.

"I've never seen him so attached, your the first person to get this close to him..." the old man smiled.

Sirus went red, stroking Cortes' cheek as he slept "I cant thank him enough for letting me.."

Cortes scrunched up even smaller on the bed, mumbling about mosquitoes. Sirus couldn't help but laugh, Aran's little habits were so...cute~.

"He was like a lost child without you, your be surprised just how much of an impact you've had on him!" the Vector smiled, "Were almost home now, just thought id mention it~"

After he left Sirus snuggled up to Cortes on the bed, nuzzling his lovers nose. And got a surprise when the other suddenly stirred, and kissed him gently, half awake.

Then he seemed to realise and sat up.

"u-uhm..i....did the chip? uh.."

Sirus grabbed him by his shoulders and kissed him to shut him up.

"I remember EVERYTHING Aran sweetie..." he rubbed the back of the humans neck "everything..."

Cortes felt a surge of relief, an overwhelming rush of affection for the blonde angel. He threw his arms around Sirus and hugged him tightly.

"I...im so glad you're OK..i don t know what id do without you.." he managed to utter at last.

Sirus tilted his head and nuzzled the humans neck, then looked into those gorgeous eyes.

"Vector told me, how worried you were..im sorry you had to go through that sweetie.."

The angel kissed him again, holding him close. They stayed that way for some time, just cuddled up together.

Then Sirus asked Aran how the kharzhem mission had gone. Snuggled in the angels lap, Cortes told him everything, even the confrontation with Di-wan and Oslo.

"My brave Aran, I know it must've been hard for you to face that sicko.." Sirus said softly, kissing him.

Cortes smiled "I had YOU there, that was all I needed."

The angel blushed, and the two were just starting to get comfortable, innuendo intended, when there was a knock on the door.

Sighing Cortes told them to come in, and the lovers reluctantly parted.

Lena popped her head round the door "hey you two!" she smiled "feeling better?"

Sirus smiled and hugged his Aran protectively "yep!~"

Cortes blushed, but Lena could see how happy he was..

"Moms been asking about you two, and Mahad been making perverted jokes!" she rolled her eyes "come join us!"

The two adults looked at each other and smiled, then followed her out of the room.

Cheng pounced on Cortes as soon as he entered, and everyone assembled there was pleased to see the possessive way Sirus was clutching hold of the captains arm. Lena tugged them over to where her mother and brother sat.

Mahad opened his mouth to make a perverted joke, but Cortes swatted him upside the head with a book that was right beside him.

"Hey! no fair!" Mahad objected. Cortes sniggered.

He sat there,listeneing to the kids chattering away. He knew they'd heard most of the yelling between Oslo and Sirus. They knew about the whole incident. The fact he'd been oslos guinea-pig, stuck in a lab..

--It feels too awkward, Lena and her mother..theyre born with these powers, they have nothing to worry about...I was just the end result of a gene experiment. I cant even control my power fully..-- His stomach lurched and he winced.

"s-scuse me.." me mumbled, getting up from the bench and legging it outside, where he leant over the railings, fighting back a wave of nausea. It was no use, he still couldn't get used to the power he had. It didn't operate the same as a normal saijin. Even when there'd been no sun, he'd still been able to summon the power. How?

--Your hatred, that's how?-- a cold voice told him --you became what Oslo wanted, he wanted to create a pawn against the rebels, and you very nearly became that..Thats why he hurt you, he knew your resentment would be a fuel. Plus you were in a solar room all that time...--

His legs gave way and he crumpled to the deck, feeling sick and his head ached...

Back inside the ship everyone was concerned as to why Cortes had scurried off so fast.

"He's been like this ever since we got him back from the monolith..." Mahad remarked.

Mila thought about it "his power, operates very differently from that of a normal saijin, Oslo was calling him a "lab rat"? what did he do?"

Sirus sighed "he caught Cortes during a raid, he dragged him back to the monolith and had the doctor use him in the gene therapy, even though it had not been tested enough at the time.." he shook his head "he was drugged, put through the full therapy, then forced to undergo testing to see how successful it had been. That's when the genes changed by themselves. Instead of evolving to just respond to sunlight..

"They responded to his fury right?" Mahad asked.

Sirus nodded "from what I could gather, his anger at being used by Oslo caused the genes to shift. It produces drastic outbursts of power when he's threatened. It has in a way..become a knee-jerk reaction, the slightest provocation and it flares up, sunlight or no. He cant always control it, since it seems its dictated by his emotional state.."

"He's been miserable about it ever since.." Lena added "he forced himself to learn to use them, but I could tell it made him feel sick to. He always looked stressed.." she shook her head "he was adamant I destroy the monolith, even though it was the only way we could've changed his genes back. He said "I don't want anyone else being used that way"...that cantve been easy."

Sirus looked worried sick "he doesn't say anything, but I can tell its tearing him apart, living with a gift he was forced to adapt to by someone he hates. He cant stand to think it could be used for an ythign but destruction, at least, that's the feeling I get.."

"Isn't there an ything we can do?" Mila asked.

Sirus shrugged, looking sad "I don't know..ive tried talking to him about it, but he always winds up getting upset, and that in itself triggers nightmare relapses...he suffered panic attacks for a while after he came back...he's very stubborn in his ways, once he gets an idea its hard to budge him from it.."

"Ill say.." Mahad sighed.

They all jumped when there was a sudden rumble of thunder. Rain began cascading down in waves. Lightening sliced through the air.

"Careful guys, sudden storms snuck up on us!" Wayan yelled "grab hold of something, hey where's the captain?!

"he's outside!" Sirus panicked, throwing the door open, getting hit by a load of rain the second he did so.

"ARAN!?" he yelled, edging his way outside.

Cortes was some feet away, still slumped on the deck. He was soaked to the skin, but it barely registered, his head was pounding..

"Aran?! oh god, get back inside you'll catch cold..!!"

He grabbed hold of his lover, turning him to face him.

Cortes seemed a bit dazed, slightly out of it.

"Why cant I accept it?" he mumbled, laughing slightly "why cant I accept it like everyone else has?" he pulled away from Sirus, staggering a few steps along, "everyone knows every damn detail about me, I never wanted them to! I don't want to be treated like im fragile, as if I have to be handled with kid gloves. I'm not that fragile!!" he yelled at last.

"You've got it wrong sweetie, everyone's worried about you, we just don't want to bring back any bad memories, that's why! None of us can stand seeing what that creeps done to you, he caused you all this misery. But he's gone now.." he stepped closer "you're free Aran,. free from him.."

"But I cant control it!" Cortes raged, stepping away from him, cold wind and rain lashing at his face. "I terrified of what'll happen, I get mad, someone gets hurt?! is that's what im going to be? a short fuse?!" he shook his head, strands of hair in his eyes, "the only time it stays calm.."

"Is when, Aran? tell me and ill sort it out.." Sirus said gently.

Cortes laughed slightly, "its YOU. I realise now, without you there, I'll keep seeing those nightmares. I know it selfish, but don't ever go. Please.."

Sirus blinked, then smiled "of course I'm staying Aran...why would I ever leave you? you're everything to me...come inside Aran, or you'll catch cold.."

Cortes hesitated then started to move towards him. Then they were struck by turbulence. The ship rocked, and Sirus clung to the railing. Cortes grabbed for it but missed, and the sudden lurching motion of the ship sent him to the deck. he struck his head and felt blood trickle down the side of his face. He lay stunned, his heart pounding in his ears.

Sirus began top run to him, but a bolt of lightening struck the deck between them, setting alight some old boxes cheng had piled there days ago. Starting a small fire.

"Oh hell- Aran?!" he yelled, squinting through the flaring smoke and flames. It was spreading like wildfire to every flammable within reach.

From his huddled position Cortes felt the heat searing his face. He looked up, seeing the flames attempting to take his ship..

--Like hell!!-- he fumed. He closed his eyes, understanding now the headache was from too much pent up power...

--Got to get the flames out. Wait...the clouds!!-- he thought. This was going to take some doing.

--Up, go UP!!-- he thought forcefully. The ship lurched, its front end tilting up, angling the towards a massive rain cloud. It plunged into it, cold dampness shrouding the whole ship. The flames flickered, smothered by the dense cloud, then died away....

He released control of the ship, and was aware of it diving out of the cloudbank again. He gotten lucky in avoid the lightning, But he'd exausted himself, he had no more energy left..

Sirus blinked, shaking his head as the view cleared. he seen the flames die away, leaving only scorch marks.

He saw Aran get to his feet and stagger towards him. Just then everyone else bat those flying the ship came running out.

"Captain?!" the Vector yelled "what the heck was that? was that you're doing?"

"Aw don't start complaining Vector-" Cortes mumbled, swaying on his feet, shivering from cold "I couldn't find a fricken extinguisher OK-?!" he cut off, coughing heavily, then passed out.

"Ack!" Sirus legged over to him and caught him quickly.

"He OK?" cheng asked.

"He over did it again.." Lena said "it used up everything he was able to generate, he'll be out for awhile.."

"Not necsessrily..i can transfer some of my power," Mila added "he's a saijin after all, it should work.."

The angel carried his lover inside, and tucked him up in bed. While Mila and Lena set about giving the exhausted saijin a hand with regaining his energy, Sirus went look for some clean clothes. He found a spare set of clothes, a black polo neck and trousers.

"There,." Mila said at last as she and her daughter finished "he should be awake soon.."

Sirus looked relieved "Thank you," he smiled "I think he'll be feeling a little better about things when he's awake.."

Lena smiled as she made to go "he'll be happy long as you're sitting there when he wakes up!"

Sirus blushed as they exited. He looked down at the snug Aran, wrapped in warm blankets.

--I hate to wake him. But he needs to get out of those clothes..-- so he gently set about waking the human up.

"mhh? whas' matter?" Cortes mumbled sleepily.

"You need to get out of those clothes Aran.." Sirus told him softly.

Cortes blinked "...since when did you ever have to ask?" he sniggered.

Sirus went red "not like that sweetie! not that im objecting, but your in no condition to be making random innuendo, you'll catch cold if you don't change out of that uniform!"

Cortes smiled "mm..i suppose so.." he snuggled up to the angel and kissed him sleepily. "gimmie a hand huh?" he grinned.

He knew for a fact the angel had the willpower of a dead goldfish when faced with a proposition like that.

Sure enough, he was right.

* * *

"Whoops~" he grinned cheekily.

Cortes laughed and snuggled up to him "well, you DID get my clothes off!" he pointed out "just took a little more time then is normally required!"

The angel snuggled him and kissed him gently "mm, that's true, but I still haveta get you into the OTHER set of clothes you silly Aran!"

Cortes laughed, sitting up in the bed "aww, okay..." he reluctantly agreed. He changed into the warm clothes, and let the angel dry off his hair, interrupted every few minutes by random kissing. Not long after, they were finally home.

Cortes still felt a bit weak, despite keeping warm. He soon found out it was a cold. And he was thusly confined to bed for3 days, while Sirus fussed over him like a mother hen. The advantage to being mostly mechanical was that colds and flu had little to no effect on him. He was thusly able to keep Cortes happy with lots of cuddles and kissing~.

The crew meanwhile went on the hunt for anyone who wanted to join the rebels, and come to puerto angel. Mila and her kids spent all their free time together, enjoying being a family again. One day, while they were down by the docks, a new shipload of people arrived.

Among them was on old friend of milas by the name of Silas. They'd written to each other for a long time, he'd known Marcus. The old man was delighted to see the two children Mila had talked so much about in her letters. He had a lot of photo albums, and he came with them to the tavern and they started rifling through them.

Cortes meanwhile, was by then fully recovered. Sirus finally allowed him outta bed and they went down to the tavern to get some food. The place was crowded when they got there, but Sirus soon spotted Mila and company an d steered Aran in their direction.

"Hey man!" Mahad waved at the angel as he approached "come over 'ere!"

The old man blinked, looking up at the two approaching. He stared at the ginger haired one. He looked familiar. Where had he seen someone like him before...a woman with almost amazing resemblance, could it be? He rifled through the photos as the two sat down.

Cortes was about to ask Mahad a question when silas spoke up.

"Sorry to sound rude...but you aren't by any chance..one of Celine's children are you?" he looked from the photo to Cortes "only the resemblance is uncanny, she never sent photos, but she always talked about her kids..."

Cortes sat there, blinking at him. "hawuh...well, yes that's my mothers name..." he said at last "how did you?"

"We used to write to each other a fair bit before she died,. She always talked about her two kids. I remember when you're father left, she was very upset, wasn't sure you kids would be OK."

Cortes managed a weak smile "yeah I remember, he just upped and left one day, mom suspected he was involved with the rebel faction, but he never told us anything...even when I came here I never found him. For all I know...he could be..." he tailed off, looking mad.

Sirus squeezed his hand and offered a sweet smile.

"I'm sorry to bring up the past like this-" silas started. Cortes shook his head and even managed a smile "I-its fine, that was a long time ago anyway. He chose to leave, that's his business, I have my own life to worry about!"

During this whole time the family had been listening. When the kids had first met Cortes, he'd seemed grumpy, moody and silent. Over time, up till the present day, bit by bit they'd seen more of his real self.

"I assume from the letters you have a brother, is he younger or-?"

"He's the older one.." Cortes confirmed "though he sure as hell doesn't act like it.."

Silas laughed "Celine did mention one of the two was very quiet and a little too grown up for his age, ill take a guess and says its you~"

Cortes glowered at him, which made everyone else sat there crack up laughing.

"he's got you there corets! Mahad called, Cortes levitated one of the photo albums and bonked Mahad on the head with it.

"Why does he keep doing that?!" Mahad squeaked. Lena shook her head and laughed.

--Hmm, he's a saijin...Celine never mentioned that...then again, it was dangerous to back then..--

Cortes caught the old man scrutinizing him with a bemused stare. and set the album down again, his hands clenching tightly in his lap. Why was he e njoying this? Hew kept using the abilities without thinking. He didn't want to, or did he?

Mila noticed Cortes anxiety, the way he seemed to tense up when people seen him using the abilities. It was a contradiction in away, euphoniously he WANTED to use them, and obviously had a laugh getting his own back on Mahad with them. But on the opposite side of the coin, he detested the powers origin, the method he'd come to have them by, the person that forced him to change.

She noticed the shift in Sirus' expression as well. He frowned, looking worried by the shift in his precious Aran's temperament. He paused for a moment, the reached under the table and clutched hold of the humans hand. Cortes blinked, then looked up at him and managed a weak smile.

--That's so cute, they seem so...comfortable around each other...that's exactly what Cortes needs right now, someone to calm him..--

Cortes tuned out of the conversation, relaxing slightly with his lovers hand held in his. Thus he didn't pick up on someone he did not wish to see walking past-

"Is the Vector here? I have some formulas to show him.."

Lena blinked "he was here earlier, he's probably back in the lighthouse..."

She was cut short as Cortes suddenly shifted back to alertness. He physically tensed up, whipping round to glare at the unwelcome presence.

Mihen edged back. Cortes look was enough to scare your average person. Plus the faint glow that was emerging around him was a warning for sure.

"What do YOU want." Cortes muttered.

"Aran.." Sirus gripped his hand even tighter "ARAN."

Cortes twitched, and the building power dissipated, but he just as quickly leapt from the bar stool and stormed off. Followed by an anxious Sirus.

Mihen realised he'd been holding his breath and let it out "that guys scary.." he wheezed.

Mila shivered "ive never seen anyone so mad before...he really does still bear a grudge against Oslo doesn't he?"

Mihen winced "more against ME. I was the one Oslo had out on operation duty.."

Lena blinked "he cant help it.." she said at last "everything that reminds him of what happened produces that reaction...the only stopping him from going ballistic is Sirus.."

Outside the tavern Cortes felt close to being sick. He felt the angels arms wrap around him and he relaxed slightly.

"Its OK Aran..."

"No its NOT." Cortes groaned "I don't know what happened just now...I didn't mean to react that way. That guy was bullied by Oslo same as me....so why did I freak out?" he shook his head "its like...I cant physically stay in the same room.."

"shh, its nothing to worry ab out Aran~" Sirus said soothingly, snuggling his beloveds neck. Cortes smiled a little.

"Guess so.." he murmured, before shifting in the angels arms and kissing him happily "what would I do without you?" he asked, causing the other to blush.

"Speak for yourself.." was the response, and he hugged the human tightly to him.

Cortes avoided the scientist whenever possible, and since the guy rarely ventured out of the Vectors lab area, it worked out for a while.

Cortes knew the rest of the crew would start fussing if they discovered the problem, so he kept quiet about it.

Until one particular day...

Vector had called them all to the lighthouse to inform them of a rapid-spreading illness that was making its way from block to block.

"Its primary symptom is an abnormally high temperature, and frequent dizzy spells. I'm looking into an antidote, to stop it before it takes over here as well! but for that I need some ingredients, which Mihen has narrowed down..whered he go?"

Wayan blinked as he seen Cortes visibly tense up on hearing the name, and hopped down off the desk he'd been sitting on. So when the messy-haired scientist re-emerged from the back room, the captain had shifted to the back of the assembled group.

"Sorry, got distracted.." Mihen sneezed and squinted at his list "most of this stuff can be gotten from the one area, but as for a specific block im unsure, im going on slightly outdated area studies...These areas have been uninhabited for some time, and Oslo only ever sent water ships out there-" he was cut off by the captain.

"What would that bastard know about anything other then screwing the universe up-" everyone turned to look at the captain, who turned a funny shape of red and clapped a hand over his mouth.

Vector frowned "now really captain, you of all people should know better then to swear around the kids-"

"Cram it!" another outburst.

"What's the matter with you today Cortes?" Mahad asked. Cortes looked confused, glancing from the mildly amused Vector to the rest of his confused c rew.

"I uh..i don't know..."

"Maybe you're ill.." mi-'ehn scooted over, peering at him. Cortes twitched "back off!" he snapped, and when the blonde poked his arm, he got a small shock for his effort.

"What's the matter with him?" dahlia blinked. Lena winced how to explain...

"perhaps the gene work.." Mihen suggested.

"Stay the HELL away from me!" Cortes raged, and any equipment nearby went into overload. The pissed saijin turned and stormed out "I don't want to f**kign deal with this!"

"Captain?" Wayan yelled after him, and was ready to follow him, but Sirus stopped him.

"Let me calm him, Lena can explain what this is all about, she understands it.." then he was gone.

Sure enough, everyone turned to look at Lena.

"Its kind of hard to explain in detail. But put shortly, he still has problems dealing with anything Oslo-related...that is.."

Mihen sighed "no need to beat about the bush kiddo, its me he's reacting to. Given I was on duty during the recent phase of the gene work, he would've regarded me in the same light as Oslo, which is why he keeps.."

"..losing his rag around you?" Wayan finished, and Mihen nodded.

"Its like a silly form of tourettes.." Mahad commented, and Lena smacked him upside the head a second later.

"Cant we do anything?" dahlia asked "he obviously didn't mean to, he looked scared about what he was saying.."

"There's not much we CAN do." everyone turned to look at Vector.

"I've been to the doctor about this. Since the outset, Cortes refused any attempts at counselling, instead pushing himself to repress what happened and get back to work. We cant force him to stop responding in this way, its a psychological problem, if we try to force it, it could have serous repercussions.."

he sighed before continuing "I cant begin it understand exactly what he went though in that time, but from what ive seen, its must've been beyond traumatic...With Oslo gone, and the sphere no longer in operation, most of the triggers for his memories are gone, which is why he's been alright up till now.."

"So what CAN we do?" Mahad asked again.

"Just keep an eye on him, and keep contact to a minimum.." Mihen butted in "until it sorts itself out that's the best option.."

Outside Cortes had gotten back to his office before Sirus caught up.

"Aran.." he snuck into the room, looking in concern at his lover, he sat slumped in his chair, gazing into space.

He finally responded when the angel scooped him up in his arms, and sat down, plonking the captain on his lap, keeping his arms wrapped round him.

"What's the matter with me?" he groaned, nuzzling the angels soft hair "now they all know.."

"They're worried about you sweetie.." Sirus comforted him "they know you're still recovering from what happened...These things take time.." he hugged the human tightly "so don't be sad..."

Cortes smiled. Just having his other half there was enough to make him feel calmer. If only Sirus knew Just how much he really did help Cortes just by being there...

He was torn away from his jumbled thoughts by a familiar hand patting his butt. He gave the standing joking protest noise, and raised an eyebrow at the angel.

"What're you thinking.." he asked, seeing the familiar crafty look on Sirus face.

"Hm..do you use that couch for much?" was the question, and Cortes knew what the answer was going to be...

"Lock the door. he said, a smile appearing on his face.

* * *

Because of the presence of other offices in the building, the lovebirds had to keep quiet, but somehow that just added to the fun~

The angel snuggled the captain he was pinning to the soft couch "hopefully that'll use up all that energy that little temper of yours generated my little Aran~"

Cortes blushed, and poked the angels cheek, giving a lazy smile "oh it has~" he answered.

* * *

But as they re-dressed then headed for the tavern, Cortes began to worry. What was he going to say next? What if he actually hit the guy next time?

And so it was as they approached the door that he lagged behind.

* * *

I am SO SORRY for the delay in this, between finally getting my 360, then moving out, plus a load of other stuff, my fics got neglected. But im back on track now! ^_^


	12. Overload

This is for metamorphstorm, for always reading and reviewing! ^_^

* * *

Sirus blinked, looking back at him "what's wrong?" he asked.

Cortes sighed and shrugged "uh...well. Nothing.." he shook his head and carried on, hoping to god that guy wouldn't be in there.

Luckily he wasn't, and Cortes sighed. Thank god was the first thought that ran through his head.

Then sirus was towing him to the bar, waving at Mila and the kids. Cortes found he couldn't seem to concentrate, his mind still on the problem.

"Great, more saijins, at this rate well be overrun!" Cortes heard Pratucci's whining voice and twitched. He seen Lena and Mila fidget self consciously and felt his fury increase.

He leapt from his bar stool, it was still day, there was still plenty of light. Time to take a stab at controlling his power without losing it.

Thus, as Pratucci and his bunch walked by, they suddenly came up against a solid shield, which rebounded them onto their behinds.

"What the f**k?!" Pratucci raged.

Cortes smirked "whoops, my bad, still having some problems. It seems stupid people set it off..."

Pratucci scrambled to his feet and swung at the captain. But he was sent skidding g across the floor by another burst.

Cortes grinned. Now THIS was fun.

Pratucci glowered at him as he stood up "you think your such a know it all Cortes, just because you've turned into one those people doesn't give you the right to throw people around."

"Oh really?" Cortes seethed "and I suppose just because of your absurdly over inflated ego you're allowed to treat saijins like dirt? ANSWER THAT JACKASS!!"

"Did they remove your brain when they gave you those powers?!" Pratucci snapped "you-ohh crap.."

Cortes face was one of pissed fury. Anyone with half a brain cell would've known better..

He stepped back slightly, that familiar blue glow pervading the dimly lit bar.

"Why don't you just shut your mouth you spineless reject," Cortes hissed, advancing on him "I don't know where you get the idea anybody gives a damn, but you'd better get rid of it now!" A massive energy ball appeared in his hand and he smirked slightly "so what'll it be? You take your head outta your ass or I do it for you?"

The whole gang of them turned tail and ran, with Pratucci cursing Cortes the whole time.

Silence. Everyone in the bar cheered and Cortes sighed wearily, the built up energy dissipating. He stood there, rubbing at his head. God he was sick and tired of Pratucci and his little bunch of morons..

"You OK Aran?" he felt Sirus' comforting grip on his arm and turned to look at him,.

"I'm fine.." he managed at last, but he looked confused "I..I just need some fresh air is all..." he turned and booted out of the tavern.

Sirus sighed sadly "Aran-" but was surprised when Mila stopped him.

"Let me talk to him for a minute.." she offered and he stayed where he was as she left.

She found the captain right outside, leaning over the railings. He looked worn out and worried.

"Does it bother you that much to use them?" she asked him. He twitched, and she knew she'd hit the nail on the head.

"I don't KNOW," he sighed, closing his eyes "it happens before I can stop myself, and I hate it. In the back of my mind I keep hoping I'll find a way to reverse this, but...I doubt it, its probably permanent. And that guy that's here, well Lena probably told you what happened."

"She did" Mila smiled "the kids are worried about you, everyone is. We cant begin to fathom just what you went through, but you need to stop beating yourself up over it. It wasn't your fault what happened, it was Oslo's. He's gone now, you can relax."

"That's just it, I CANT" Cortes muttered "I cant forget that incident. Am I just following oslos plan by using them? i don't know..."

Mila nodded "I see what you mean now. You think because Oslo was the one that gave them to you, they're a bad, evil thing?" she thought about it "But I think it depends on how you USE them that matters. Its up to you what they represent, but Lena's happy to have as many saijins around as possible, and if you're having problems keeping them under control, Lena and me can help.."

Cortes was silent for a moment, then he at last looked up, and he looked a lot better.

"Yeah, I guess so," he said at last "thanks."

Mila smiled and indicated a figure hovering by the door. Sirus. "He's worried sick about you, go.."

She nudged the bemused captain over towards sirus, then returned to the inn where here kids waited.

"Feeling better cutie?" sirus asked, wrapping his arms around Cortes. Cortes nodded and nuzzled the others nose "im fine now.." he smiled.

Sirus smiled and kissed him gently "good, now lets go back inside.." keeping his precious Cortes close by the walked back in.

* * *

One night Lena was bothered by freakish nightmares, of a strange black cloud abducting people. But she wasn't alone, Cortes was seeing it too, along with Mila.

It damn near gave Cortes a heart attack, he woke up, and found he was levitating some way off the bed. And let out a startled yelp as he lost control of his power and fell with a thump back onto the bed, startling its other occupant, sirus, awake.

"What was that Aran?" he asked, looking at the scared saijin "something wrong?"

"I just freaking started floating?!" Cortes yelped "is that normal?!"

Sirus smiled and kissed him gently "Its probably a saijin trait...don't worry about it, we can ask Mila and Lena in the morning.." he drew the pirate into his arms and snuggled him gently. Cortes relaxed and drifted back to sleep in the warmth of the others hold..

The next morning Cortes pelted out of his room, sirus in tow. Arriving at the tavern he found Mila and Lena, and blurted the whole incident out.

Lena giggled "I meant to warn you, that does happen sometimes when you're sleeping..."

Cortes looked wigged out "almost gave me the fright of my life...how do you two put up with it.."

"ya get used to it...when Lena was little I used to tuck her very tightly into bed so she wouldn't drift off!" Mila revealed, prompting more giggles from the kids and the adults.

"But that dream....did you both-" they nodded, anticipating his question. He shook his head "I don't like it, whatever it is...perhaps we should.."

"Go check it out?" Lena finished. Cortes nodded.

"Well you're not going off by yourself young lady" Mila added.

Then Cortes spoke up "I want to check it out...I'll go with her..."

Mila looked relieved, she knew lena'd be fine with the captain. And judging by sirus' expression, he wasn't going to let his precious Aran go off by himself. So that made three...

She wanted to go herself, but Mahad was sick, caught a cold goofing off in the chilly mornings. So she needed to stay with him..

Telling Lena to be careful she watched as she left with Cortes and sirus.

* * *

They took the Hyperion, as Lena was sure Mahad wouldn't mind. She and Cortes let Sirus do the flying, keeping a look out for the block they'd dreamt off.

It seemed like they were going in circles, Sirus was starting to get a bit bored, when they finally spotted something hidden in the clouds. a small village.

"There!" both said at the same time, making sirus jump, then he tugged the ship round to land not far from the town centre.

There dream had concerned a young boy, dark skinned with black hair. It was this child they kept a look out for as they traipsed through the seemingly empty town. At last, over a small bridge they came across a basketball court. And there was the boy, with a white haired woman, probably his mother, sat on a nearby bench.

The little boy looked up as he heard footsteps, and stared at the visitors. Two adults and a young girl. One of the adults had some type of metals wings folded loosely to his sides, a robot? He was keeping protectively close to the ginger haired human. The girl had jet black hair and blue eyes. She smiled at him.

"Who're you guys?" the woman asked. Lena stepped forward "My names Lena, I need to warn you about-" but she was cut off as a funny black cloud appeared in the sky above them.

Looking up at it Cortes felt a horrible dread, as if this cloud was something very bad indeed. Sure enough it was. Before any of them could even blink it had swarmed around the boys mother, then it dissipated, and the woman was gone.

"MOMMY!" the boy wailed, running to the bench she'd been sat at. Cortes and Lena gawped at each other then at the empty bench.

"What the hell?!" sirus whispered, staring up at the sky. All of the software he'd been programmed with, and none of it had recognised this odd phenomenon. Which meant it wasn't likely a sphere invention, or he'd have known even a little about it. Working as an aide to Oslo had given him access to some strange stuff.

Out of habit he snapped the wings out, stretching them to their full width before folding them back in a little.

The kid stopped crying to stare at this sight. "Who are you guys...who's he, a robot?" meaning sirus.

"That's right, an AI," Lena smiled "he used to work for the sphere a long time ago..." she looked over at the angel "didya recognise that thing?"

Sirus shook his head pale blonde hair drifting in the light breeze "nothing like that in any of my memory files, and my scanning software's not getting anything either...whatever that thing is...its not sphere-related."

Lena frowned, who could it be.

"It took my friends dad as well, two weeks ago..." the little boy, who told them his name was Spencer, said carefully.

"Was he a saijin?" Cortes abruptly asked.

The little boy nodded, and Cortes and Lena exchanged worried looks. Then Lena had an idea.

Cortes objected as soon as she even started explaining. But she reassured him shed be fine, if that thing did take her, the Hyperion would be able to track her.

Against his better judgement as it was, he reluctantly agreed. He went back to the Hyperion, while sirus stayed where Lena was. With his flight ability he'd be able to take off after her much faster then the Hyperion. He was so busy concentrating on Lena he didn't notice Spencer sneak off...

Sure enough, soon as Lena displayed her power, the section of block the bench was on broke off and began to travel away from them. Stretching the wings out sirus took off, swooping up into the dusky sky, keeping a safe distance from Lena's section of block, but keeping track.

* * *

On board the Hyperion, Cortes had his second heart attack of the day when he discovered Spencer had crept on board with him.

"Kid its too damn dangerous, we'll get your mother back, so just keep quiet..." he added, keeping an eye on the radar, where it was tracking his precious sirus. Looking into the clouds ahead he could see the faint glimmer of metals wings, and a smile crept onto his face.

"Are you a saijin too? like the girl?" Spencer asked. He blinked as the adult tensed up a little, then sighed and nodded.

"I thought so, me too!" the kid smiled "don't see many adult saijin around here most its us kids!" the happily babbling Spencer didn't see how tightly Cortes was gripping the controls.

"Well, there's a few I can think of...." Cortes murmured, pushing the anger at his memories deep down, feeling calmer a few seconds later as he kept on following his lover as he ducked and flew between the blocks.

* * *

Lena got a shock when she seen exactly who was kidnapping saijin. A modified brig took her to a chamber where several capsules rested, two of them had people held captive inside, one being Spencer's mother.

She was greeted by a very strange woman in a red sphere outfit, with spiky black hair and a manic gleam in her eyes. She informed Lena of her batshit insane plane to reunite skylands blocks, even if it meant a few settlements got blown up. She trapped Lena in one of the capsules, and would've left it at that, were it not for a brief glimmer of power she sensed from outside..

"Guests? I loathe the unexpected!" she fumed, closing her eyes and concentrating.

* * *

Flying in the craft outside Cortes was straining at the controls as a weird gravity pulled at the craft. Flying up ahead sirus was having just as much trouble, but his lighter weight meant he could fly through the randomly moving blocks much faster then the Hyperion.

Cortes blinked as a block shot in front of them, he closed his eyes, summoning the power he needed. With this as help, he was able to guide them round the barmy block movements. With several hairy near-miss moments that had Spencer clinging to his seat.

Eventually he made to where an anxious sirus waited. The angel squeezed the saijins hand gently as the two of them plus Spencer sneaking along, entered the weird looking tower.

They were met by a bunch of brigs that weirdly enough greeted them kindly. Not taking any chances Cortes pulled the angel up a set of stairs with him. They crept along, peering over the banister where they could hear Lena arguing with this nutty woman, who'd called herself Shinseiki.

She was about to activate some machine and it did NOT look friendly. Ordering sirus and Spencer to stay put unless they had to, he leapt from the walkway, landing easily on his feet. Shinseiki whipped round to confront this intruder.

"Cortes!" Lena cried, she had to warn him..

Shinseiki glared narrowly at him, noting the pirate uniform.

"There's something odd about you..." she paused then in a split second summoned a burst of power and knocked the captain flying. Hunched over coughing he glared at her, his suppressed anger surfacing "go ta hell.." he hissed, an ominous aura appearing around him. Shinseiki's eyes widened. This guy was weird, but a saijin.

But..his power was different to a normal saijin, it had a far darker feel to it.

"An adult saijin, yet not trained? you are odd...but nonetheless I shall add you to my collection!" she fired another blast, but this time Cortes blocked it, shaking his head "like hell you are!" he snarled.

As Lena and the other captives watched, Cortes and Shinseiki commenced beating the living hell outta each other.

Sirus meanwhile had found what looked like a control box for the machinery on the ceiling. While he was staring at it he seen a light flick on, a light labelled "active". Panicking he pulled a cable from his pocket, hooking himself up to the machine.

Shinseiki grinned as she looked down at the figure sprawled on the floor. He'd put up a good fight, he was strong but his temper ruled his power, which meant he burnt out fast.

One good blast had knocked him unconscious, now to put him in one of the capsules...

Lena panicked as Cortes stried bravely to fight Shinseiki, but like the crazy lady, she sensed Cortes anger was what was making the power drain so fast. Given what he'd been through though, she couldn't blame him...

Now that awful woman had shut him into one of the capsules as well.

"Once he wakes he will be a useful addition to the rest of you.." she put a hand to her head "I must rest..." then she staggered off.

Which left the prisoners free to talk.

"Is Spencer alright?" the pale haired woman asked Lena.

Lena nodded "he's fine.."

The other captive, from the same village most likely, indicated Cortes. "Who's he? I've never seen saijin power so strange before..."

"He's a pirate from one of the rebel blocks.." Lena said "and his powers are a little strange...I cant exactly explain why.."

As she spoke Cortes stirred, opening his eyes. He seen where he was and panicked, trying to break the capsule open.

"There's no point in that bud," the man advised Cortes "it wont break.."

Cortes snarled in anger, giving the capsule one last thump before slumping back against the other side of it. He still felt pretty drained.

--Where are you sirus? You have to keep away from that woman..--

* * *

Spencer tugged worriedly at sirus' sleeve. The robot guy was giving off a faint glow, "what're ya doing?"

"I've taken as much power as I can from the system...kid, STAY HERE. stay hidden. I think I have a way to disrupt her machine"

* * *

Eventually Shinseiki returned, babbling about the sun being in its zenith, the time was right, she claimed.

Lena felt panic rise, Shinseiki had four saijin now, four batteries to drain power from..

The machine started up, the whirring sound filling the high ceiling room. Lena called to the others to hold their energy back, but she knew Cortes of all people would have the most trouble. He had immense power sure, but lacked the training to use it.

* * *

Hidden in the power room Spencer wondered what the angel was going to do..

Sirus had gone back the way they'd entered, flying up to the top of the tower. There he landed, wings outstretched. Closing his eyes he began disabling the limits that usually stopped him from over using his energy, to prevent core overloads. The sheer amount of power let free after he forced the limits was enough to make him dizzy. But he forced his concentration to stay steady.

The faint glow Spencer had seen before intensified now, so from a distance it looked like a bright white light atop the tower.

--Time to shut this little operation down..-- as the build-up reached its peak, he quickly knelt down, pressing his hand to the roof. The wings snapped out to maximum width, power cracking along the tips of the metal feathers. the surge of energy passed from him to the structure of the building, passing through it as one giant invisible EMP wave.

* * *

Even trying hard as they could to hold onto their power as per Lena's instructions, and Shinseiki seemed so close to achieving what she wanted...then the machine spluttered and sparks blinded everyone for a moment as the machine overloaded itself, cables snapping loose, the whine of failing power the only sound beside Shinseiki's mad screams.

The capsules they were all trapped in opened up seconds later, and Lena yelled at everyone assembled to fire at Shinseiki now.

Needless to say that knocked out, sending her sprawling across the floor, while above her the machinery was little more then a black and charred mess.

"What the hell was that?" the man asked. Cortes suddenly turned and bolted out of the room, searching franticly for sirus.

Mid way to the door he ran into Spencer, who pointed him in the direction sirus left in before running to find his mommy.

Cortes felt panic claw at his stomach as he emerged onto the very top of the roof, having climbed the rest of the way from the access door. There, slumped across the roof was the angel. Running over to him he knelt down by the unconscious figure. He was clutching something in his hand, a cable, and a shred of paper. On it were the words "mains generator".

Realising what had happened he felt a surge of relief. "You idiot.." he murmured, picking him up. Even with the wings folded in, he was still kind of heavy, but worry about getting him recharged was more important...

* * *

"Where's Cortes?" Lena wondered, looking all around her. Then the saijin wandered into view, carrying someone in his arms.

"Sirus?!" Lena panicked, running over "is he-?"

Cortes nodded "utterly outta power....he was the one that blew out the crazy woman's machinery...we need ta get him to the generator back in puerto angel.."

"Generator? Power? What on earth is that guy?" the older guy asked.

"An AI, built by the sphere," Spencer filled in from what Lena had told him.

"But...he looks so human, its astounding.." the guy said shaking his head "the same lot that built the brigs built this guy?"

Following behind the captain as he carried sirus back to the Hyperion Lena filled the rest in;

"He was originally designed to be oslos assistant, but pulled a fast one and ran off. He's been helping the rebels ever since.."

"So he's like a super computer?"

Lena smiled "Kind of, he fixed the main computer in about half an hour, it runs much better now.."

Cortes flew the ship the rest of the way back at the fastest speed it could go, anxious to hook the angel back to the super computer.

They dropped the kidnapped back in the village, and Lena said shed come back to have a basketball match with Spencer someday. and shed bring Mahad...

* * *

"Cortes will you calm down?!" vector snapped as he watched Cortes fidgeting like a cat with a nervous disorder, "it could take hours before he recharges. He DID use up all his power and machinery this complex takes a lot of power to fully charge..."

"I know vector...but.." Cortes sighed "he coulda gotten himself blown up...why'd he take such a risk.."

"The reason is going to get a book to the head if it doesn't stop asking dumb questions, and because he was worried about you is why!"

Cortes sighed, sitting down at a desk, tapping idly at his computer, attempting to type a report, and getting nowhere fast.

Both Cortes and vector had both dozed off some hours later when sirus finally stirred. He slowly opened his eyes, recollecting in a nanosecond what had happened. His system had rebooted, resetting his system limits.

--Where's Aran?!-- he sat up quickly, and smiled when he seen Aran asleep across the desk. Disconnecting himself he wandered over, gently shaking his lovers shoulder.

Cortes sat bolt upright "you cant prove I blew that up!" he protested weakly, then slowly realised who was standing behind him. He leapt from his seat almost knocking sirus over as he hugged him tightly.

"Thank god you're alright...I thought I'd lost you again.."

"I told you I wouldn't let that happen...I didn't mean to worry you Aran, I guess I used a little too much power huh?"

"You. Daft.." Cortes shook his head, unable to finish "just warn me before ya do that again..OK?"

"Ok cutie~" sirus smiled and silenced any further protests from his precious Aran by kissing him deeply.

"I'm glad you're ok Aran.." the angel smiled, nuzzling his nose.

"That's my line.." Cortes smiled, brown eyes meeting pale blue.

"You two don't miss a second do ya.." vector, having woken up, smiled at the couple.

Cortes went red and sirus smiled "nope!" he answered cheerfully, still holding happily onto Cortes.

"Then how about we go get some food, I'm quite hungry.." vector suggested. The pair nodded and smiled, following the old man down the hill towards the tavern..

* * *

FINALLY i get round to posting this.._

Random Fact: I started listening to my old Linkin Park CDs again, i'd forgotten i had them..


	13. Ghost in a machine?

**For Metamorphstorm, hope everything works out for you! Thanks for always reading!**

* * *

Cortes was noticing his powers were beginning to cause more and more weirdness. The sleep levitation had become a problem.

So far none of the crew had found out about it, that was, until Wayan and dahlia went to see him..

He was on the Nazaire, asleep sitting up in his chair. Nothing odd? Well add to this the fact he was leaning back on the chair and it wasn't falling, it was hovering an inch or so off the floor. All around him books pencils and other odds and ends floated in mid air as the saijin slept. The dreams made no sense, filled with visions of a group of children, an island, sphere ships, an odd unknown ship and a guardian with a ginger hair colour and an unfriendly scowl. And with her was someone else...someone far worse...

"Captain?" Wayan knocked, but heard nothing. Looking at Dahlia he shrugged then opened the door, Dahlia following him in. They stopped and stared at the odd spectacle.

"How the heck.." Dahlia whispered, looking at the calmly levitating objects.

"Cortes?" Wayan moved forward and tapped his shoulder.

"NO Wayan don't do tha-" Dahlia squeaked, too late.

The tap jolted Cortes awake, and his subconscious concentration spell was broken, objects crashed to the floor, scattering everywhere. The chair hit the floor and continued on its backwards descent. With the end result being poor Cortes fell backwards chair and all, onto the floor.

From this prone position he glowered blearily up at Wayan and Dahlia "this better be good?" he snapped, then noticed the mess "the hell went on here? I tidied it up earlier..."

Dahlia blinked "sir, you don't remember? Everything was floating about, we assumed you were just focusing...you mean you were asleep?"

"Yesss, I was..what're you talking about, floating?"

"All the books and stuff captain.." Wayan added "not to mention yourself. The chair was a few inches off the floor.." he shook his head in amazement "how d'ya do that?!"

Cortes looked lost for words "frankly...I don't know..." he answered "but it seems to happen at the same time these screwy dreams do..."

He folded his arms and frowned, this seriousness offset by the fact he still hadn't gotten up from where he'd fallen.

"Anyway captain, Lena was asking us to find you, something about-"

"A bunch of kids and sphere patrollers right?" Cortes butted in smoothly.

"Yes.." Dahlia finished "how'd you.."

Cortes got to his feet with Wayan's help "I think. It has something to do with saijin abilities...the telepathy, the dreams seem to be the same amongst all the saijins..so is that whole levitation business...according to Mila its a common trait, only most saijins don't tend to get it this frequently..."

His tone sounded bitter and he scowled. Then he shook his head and walked out "ill clean this up later, lets get going..."

Wayan frowned, sounded like Cortes was still having a little difficulty accepting the abilities. Sometimes he seemed happy enough using them, but sometimes, like now, it showed through that he wasn't truly at peace with them...

* * *

He got to the ship ahead of everyone else, Sirus was running slightly late, which obviously made Cortes bored being on his own.

So when Lena beetled on board he welcomed the chance to discuss the powers. She'd brought with her a bunch of what looked like little blocks of wood.

"I used 'em when I was training my powers" she explained "the point is to move them into various shapes via concentration..."

So when the rest of the crew got there they were surprised to see a fish made of wooden blocks floating in the air.

"What the hell? Lena, you being strange again?" Mahad asked. The fish separated into the blocks, then reformed as a hand, which made a rude gesture at him.

"Cortes..." Mahad glowered at the saijins back, "I know that's you..."

Cortes sniggered and the blocks drifted back to Lena. "Sorry, cant help it.." he laughed.

Mahad made a face at him and sat down, while Cortes drifted back to his seat. Seconds later Sirus zoomed on board.

"Sorry, got delayed..." he wheezed, scuttling over to Cortes "hey you, you okay?"

Cortes smiled "yeah, im fine..."

Sirus smiled and paused briefly to kiss his cheek before looking at the display "where we headed?" he asked.

Cortes smiled "Well, were kinda not sure..." he shrugged "we don't have co-ordinates.."

Sirus gave him a WTF look. "Say that again Aran, only this time so it makes sense..." he sad slowly.

Cortes glowered at him which made Sirus snicker, then shook his head, smiling.

"Its a dream, we all had it. Well, the saijins anyway.." he said.

"Ah..i see.." Sirus smiled "Well here's hoping you find your way..."

Cortes stood, grasping the steering column, he smiled "we will, I know it.." he and Lena shared a look and nodded to each other. They knew where to go..

The rest of the crew just shrugged but decided now was not a good time to doubt saijins powers. They seemed pretty accurate most the time...

So with Cortes steering the ship on a hunch the rest of the crew could only wait..

Eventually they came to an area which seemed to be made up primarily of a LOT of floating rock and debris. Wayan gave the captain a questioning look, but Cortes insisted it was the right way. Then he oddly enough insisted on going off in the Hyperion. Although worried as ever, Sirus stayed behind to do the steering, while Aran left on the Hyperion with Mahad and Lena.

On board, both saijins seemed oddly quiet, Mahad noticed they both kept staring ahead, only pausing to share the odd look, and once a nod.

--Darn it, im not telepathic!-- Mahad grumbled mentally --I don't know what they're talking about?!--

So he got quite a surprise when a large building rose out of the rocks and mist. Lena said it was a hotel, where people used to take vacations, before the wars started. Mahad drifted off into a wistful daydream of having a vacation with Dahlia which was interrupted by Cortes smacking him on the back of the head.

While Mahad and Lena stopped to giggle at some absurd statues, Cortes wandered ahead a little, staring up at the hotel. This was part of the dreams meaning he was sure...

He was interrupted by a little kids voice behind him, then Mahad snapping crossly, and Lena giggling...

Turning back he seen one of the statues was poking Mahad with a toy gun. Shaking his head he walked over and whipped the cover off, revealing a little kid.

"Hey!" the kid whipped round, toy gun at the ready, "you're our...prisoner..?" his voice trailed off weakly when he confronted Cortes.

--An Adult..-- he stared wide eyed up at the tall figure, who stood unimpressed before him, arms folded, a vaguely amused smile on his face.

"Adults aren't allowed-!" he raised the toy again, or tried to. His arm was frozen. The adult smirked, shaking his head, a familiar glow surrounding his hand.

"And whys that?" he asked, amused.

--A Saijin adult?!-- this was a total mystery to the kid. `They'd been in the hotel for years it was an orphanage for saijin kids after all, and never, aside from Lukas, had they seen anything resembling an adult, let alone an adult SAIJIN.

The kids turned their attention to this scary figure from Lukas' storied. Adults were bad they'd been told, yet here were two kids with an adult. a saijin kid and adult. One wasn't a saijin. As Mahad irritably con firmed.

"I hate to say this.." Lena said, restraining a giggle.

"What?" Mahad asked.

"Take us..to your ...leader.." Lena sputtered, before she cracked up laughing, leading to sarcastic groans from everyone else assembled.

"Lenaaa..." Mahad wailed in mock despair. "so...cheesy...." he pretended to keel over.

"Sorry.." she giggled weakly.

"What about HIM?" a blonde kid demanded, indicating Cortes "King Lukas wont like an adult coming here..."

"Kid..this "King" of yours needs to see us, yer all in danger here...there's somebody on their way that isn't as nice as we are.."

"We'll be the judge of that!" The dark haired kid, Poe, glowered at Cortes, who merely stared blankly back "fine, but one move and Lukas will kick your butt!"

Cortes made a scornful snort, but reluctantly allowed himself to be sheparded by the little kids. In his dream he'd seen someone he'd prayed was dead di-wan..

* * *

Lukas was giving a spirited (if not inaccurate) rediniton of peter pan to an assembled group of kids when Poe suddenly burst in.

"King Lukas, I bring our first prisoners!"

"Excellent Poe-"

"And ones an adult- a saijin-" here Poe's explanation was cut off as Cortes strode in ahead of him. The kids fell silent as this figure cut a path through the crowd, seemingly unafraid of approaching Lukas. He showed none of the fear or hesitation most visitors would.

Lukas gaze shot from Poe the man who now stood directly in front of him. His attention was briefly drawn to the pirate marking, so familiar, where had he seen it...who cared. Adults were bad, and this one had to be stopped-

The kids screamed a second later as Lukas gathered a bolt of energy and tried to slam it at Cortes. But the adult raised his hand and calmly matched the power Lukas was forcing towards him.

"Don't be stupid" the adult snapped, "we don't have time for this, someone's coming her that will take you away and not to a nice place either!"

"Why should I believe you- you're an ADULT!" Lukas raged.

"ALL THE MORE REASON TO LISTEN!" Cortes yelled "I've run into her before trust me, she's a nightmare you'll WISH you could wake up from!"

Lukas tried to beat Cortes back with ever more power, but the pirate wasn't standing for it. And during this lock, a few memories slipped loose.

Lukas caught a glimpse of an adult woman with a strange marking on her head, a pale skinned man in white, a lab, freaky looking machinery, and the briefest glimpse of a man wearing an identical uniform being locked in a room with all sorts of test gear-

Then the contact broke, as Cortes realised something was wrong, not knowing what, but it didn't feel good...

Lukas shook his head. The guy in the white uniform at the end...was the same one stood in front of him now....

Cortes felt sick and dizzy for a moment, as did the teenager in front of him..

"Please. You have to listen to him, we got to get outta here!" Lena begged. She could sense something had transpired, and hoped Lukas was willing to listen, "that woman's from the sphere, she thinks its still around, and she's trying to gather saijins to rebuild an army of guardians!"

"You look like a kid, but you talk like an adult..." Lukas glowered at Lena next. Cortes meanwhile fought with the urge to smack him upside the head...

Then a horrible jolt of pain speared right through him, the sickness intensifying. The room seemed to spin and he mad e a strangled sound...A flashback of horrid memories, all to do with that woman and that ship...

"Cortes?" Mahad poked the captains elbow "what's up man?"

"She's already here...patrollers....the nazaire not here yet..." Cortes managed at last. Lukas looked at him like he was nuts.

"What's he babbling about?! What's the matter with him?" he demanded. Cortes looked about to be sick..

"Di-wan...it was her wasn't it. The other person in the dream..." Mahad figured out at last. Lena nodded. "She's alive...and I get the feeling she's trying ta rebuild the sphere..."

Cortes grabbed Lukas by the shoulders and shook him slightly "don't be an idiot, if she gets you you're screwed..."

He turned to Mahad and Lena "You two, hide!"

"What?!" Lena stared at him in bemusement "why?! I'm a saijin too!"

"I know, but if she's really inherited oslos place as it were, you'll still be target number one! Get back to the Hyperion if you can, just get going! If she finds out were all here we'll be totally busted.."

The patrollers were on the other side of the building, so they hopefully hadn't seen the hyperion..Mahad and Lena left, to hopefully get to the craft, and stop diwans lot from escaping, or at least keep them busy until the nazaire arrived to take the kids. Cortes had saijins powers and a plasma rifle, he'd be able to safeguard the kids..

* * *

Or he would've, if Lukas hadn't insisted on attacking Cortes. No sooner had the kids left then the teen threw a big blast at Cortes, knocking the adult to the floor, winding him.

"This is a trick, why should we believe you!" although a niggling part of him told him to pay attention to the images the man had sent him. Somehow they seemed to hold a kind of terror Lukas didn't want to see. A feeling of being trapped mostly...

"Kid...stoppit.." Cortes gasped as he forced himself up, but a second blast slammed him to the carpet again.

"Lukas..thats enough..youre going to really hurt him!" Poe at last butted in. They'd never really had to fight using their powers, so Lukas didn't seem to know just how strong he was...

"Why should we listen to an adult...he could be lying! What say you all we put him in lock-up, and go capture the other prisoners! Then we can have pie!"

The kids cheered, momentarily distracted by this premise. Cortes stood shakily, feeling sick still from the barrage of memories from minutes earlier..

"Please, we'll all be in deep trouble if you don't run now!"

Then something hit him in the back, and he staggered.

"You'd do well to listen to the "adult" little brats, even if he's a bigger fool then you are.." a familiar cold voice seared through Cortes as he turned to face it.

Di-wan. A nightmare he'd hoped to avoid. He recalled the training shed put him through during the stint on the monolith, the brutal injury he'd both sustained and inflicted over time..

"You.." he hissed.

"We meet again at last Cortes. Or should that be "lab rat"?" di-wan smirked. Shed been furious at Cortes escape, at the damage he'd dealt her before, and at his somehow messing sirus programming up and removing that powerful weapon from her precious Oslo's grasp.

Cortes prepared to summon the power necessary to give her one last beat down, but she tutted, motioning brigs to file in behind her. Cannons aimed at the kids. "I'm sorry lab rat, but unless you want the kiddies to suffer, id advise you stand down and be a good little test subject.."

Cortes shuddered, Oslo had referred to him as that during those two nightmarising attacks. That scientist had referred to him as just a test subject, a nothing..

Lukas looked from Di-wan to the adult. The man was scared that was obvious, he was standing so tense, hands clenched so tight blood dripped onto the plush carpeting, he was white as a sheet...

Then at last the aura he'd been building dissipated. he couldn't risk the kids lives.

"Smart move for once in your life Cortes..." Di-wan smirked, the brigs marched over, two restraining Cortes, the rest aiming guns at the kids, "Now MOVE, the lot of you..."

As he was dragged and shoved towards the door his radio went off.

_"-Aran, where are you? Were not far now-"_

Di-wan paused, grabbed the radio from its holster on Cortes waist.

"Sorry you little malfunctioning bunch of circuits, he's mine now!"

_"You- let him go you insane bitch!"_ sirus' voice was venomous in an instant.

Di wan laughed "id watch the language sirus, there are kids present..."

On the other end of the radio sirus fury was visible in the way he looked and spoke,

_"I swear to god I will tear you apart if you don't him go this instant!!"_

"You'll never get here in time, even if you fly all the way..." by now diwan was out at the ship shed arrived in , from that distance she couldn't see the nazaire and knew sirus wasn't going to be a threat.

_"I'll find you, one goddamn way or another you little-"_ here sirus used words that'd make a veteran sailor blush. Where he learnt them even Wayan couldn't guess. He'd only taught him the basic profanities...

Thankfully the kids were too scared to hear all this, but Cortes could still hear them, even as he was shoved into the large ship that awaited. It was easily the size of a water carrier, but it was too streamlined, this one was built for speed that believed its bulk.

"Try all you want you jumped up filofax, you wont get him back-"

Before she could cut him off she caught one last threat _"You don't know what I can do, do you?"_ it was spoken in such a chilling tone even the nazaires crew got the shivers. Diwan felt a vague sense of unease but pushed it aside as she got on board and ordered the ship to take off.

* * *

On board the nazaire the crew could tell sirus was pissed. Not just because of the tone of his voice, but also the way his wings were stretched out. Normally they compressed to a size small enough to be hidden by the padded jacket he wore. But now they were unfolded to the maximum length, their tips made of sharply refined metal. Sharp enough to rip though the ships hull if they'd stretched any further then they were now..

For the first time they really realised he'd not been built just as an aide to Oslo, but also as a bodyguard. As a mobile weapon. Which meant that threat more then likely wasn't idle, sirus never joked when it came to looking after Cortes.

"Lets go-" Sirus said sharply.

"Hey, I'm all for getting Cortes back, but you have to think this rationally..." vector stood in front of sirus, looking up at him "stand down automated defence mode, there's nothing you can do now!"

Sirus flinched slightly, but after a tense couple of seconds the wings folded back down with a metallic snapping sound.

"Fine. What other options are there..." the angel spoke at last. Wayan and Dahlia traded confused glances, how had Vector managed to stop Sirus.

Mahad and Lena caught up to them then in the Hyperion, they'd heard what had happened, they'd seen Cortes and the kids being shepherded aboard the ship diwan had brought.

Sirus allowed wayan to take over control of the ship, saying he needed to lie down..

"Vector..." Dahlia broke the silence "how'd did you, ya know, get him to tone down like that.."

"Yeah.." Wayan added "he was all set to go the warpath by the looks of things...I forget he's still a guard robot..."

"Simple..." the Vector said "during the time when he was recharging I took the liberty of examining some of command lines. They're like responses buried inside the programming. Evidently, had he ever put it to use, Oslo would have had to have been able to command him to use his full attack capability...I merely...added myself as a secondary controller..and noted a few of the commands down just out of curiosity...didn't think id ever have to use them.."

"So..by automated defence-?" Wayan asked "you mean.."

"Exactly. automatic." Vector smiled "His programming follows certain protocol lines, situations are categorized this way, and his response is dictated thusly. Hence when the person set as the controller or "master" is severe danger the defence protocol is automatically activated, full power, hence why the wings showed up.."

"Those things look lethal.." Dahlia winced "so sharp.."

"I don't doubt that's why they're built, as a shield, a weapon, plus flight ability.." the Vector smiled "he cant help it...this is what Oslo has him set to do...he's still as nuts over Cortes as ever.." the old man chuckled "who wouldn't be if a loved one was threatened, Sirus is a little more...defensive then most, he cant help it.."

It was the first time any of them besides Lena and Mahad had seen him so mad. Back when they'd fought Oslo Sirus had gotten pissed off and had managed to draw a weapon and fire in a split second, at Oslo. It had to be the same thing. Cortes in danger equalled a fight.

* * *

Back in his lovers room on the nazaire Sirus paced, worrying. he wasn't sure how vector had triggered the shutdown of his attack mode, but he was relieved he had. He'd have probably caused a mess. But how else was he supposed to get Aran back.

--Like hell that BITCH is keeping hold of him...oh god Aran, why didn't I go with you? How damn stupid can I be? I let you outta my sight, im supposed to look after you...--

His hands were clenched tightly, and he couldn't stay still, he fidgeted about the room, staring worriedly out the window...then sitting on the bed, smiling faintly at a memory.... Then worry took over and he resumed the pacing routine.

That was how Vector found him some time later, when they were almost home again. They'd tried tracing di-wans ship, but it was evidently some sort of stealth model, as it had soon vanished from the radar.

"I'm afraid we lost it," the old man said sadly as he opened the door. Sirus stopped pacing to stare "whatever ship shed got is beyond the usual..."

sirus blinked, tried to think which of the sphere specialist craft it could be, his database held details of a fair few..

Vector gave a vague description of it and Sirus groaned. "One of the "science" vessels..."

Vector stared in surprise "didn't seem like that kind of ship..."

Sirus snickered coldly "Vector, if its one thing I learnt from the Sphere, its that even their research vessels are armed to the teeth. "Science vessel" is just another name, that things still a warship."

Vector winced, Sirus still sounded mad. He sighed "I apologise for derailing whatever plan you had before, but going off the rails and blasting everything to hell could put Cortes in even more danger, if you'd fired at the ship..."

Sirus sighed, his shoulder slumping "I know, I know...I just....."

Vector patted the blonde robots shoulder and smiled "you just wanted Cortes back, I know. You cant help your own defences, just try to think first, as it seems Oslo didn't when he created your defences.."

Another wince from Sirus "I know...he wanted a bodyguard he could control completely, as a result, a lot of my defences are either automatic or verbally activated....luckily Aran hasn't run across any yet...but still....my own programming unnerves me somewhat..."

"Perhaps Cheng could take a look, although ive seen your coding and its way beyond anything that's ever been studied before, you make brigs look like toasters compared to a tank!" Vector finished, which made Sirus laugh very faintly.

"To be truthful...I wonder about it, sometimes its easy to forget what I am...I guess that's the problem with giving a machine proper consciousness. The brigs, they only have a faint awareness, they're little more then mobile computers, run from the servers on the monolith. They're aware their machines...sometimes I forget, it feels like something other then just code makes up what controls my responses..."

"A ghost file.." the Vector spoke.

"Uh?" sirus blinked at him.

"I mean "ghost in the machine". Sometimes, with something as complex as yourself, the code writes itself. Your responses have changed since we first seen you. You were pretty set in how you'd react, but then you began worrying about Cortes. Your behaviour has changed as much as any human. Ive seen you laugh, smile and get as cheesed off as Cortes himself, if anything, you could say he's the reason the "ghost" was created."

Sirus stared. Vector was right. His behaviour had changed ever since he'd run away with Aran. At first he'd felt only pity for the unhappy test subject, coupled with a wish to leave Oslo's command. But he'd been unable to let go of Cortes, even after they'd gotten back to his people. The human had become more then another "priority" marker in his system. He'd become a part of the system altogether, when sirus had started to see the human as more then just a friend/rescuer...

"I'd convinced myself I was just trying to make up for Oslo's mistreatment of him, but I guess I knew the truth all along. On a Sphere ship, someone like Aran was a rare sight, someone who didn't just roll over and play dead, giving the Sphere what they want without even fighting back..."

"If nothing else, that's human behaviour.." the Vector chuckled "we convince ourselves we have a different motive for talking to someone, or helping them...part of being human is being nervous as hell when you realise you like someone...if nothing else you displayed that right off the bat.." The old man smiled "trust me...the only thing that gives away your mechanical heritage is the wings. Without them, I doubt anyone could tell the difference between you and any other human being..."

Sirus blinked "you....really think so.." he said softly, but he looked so relieved happy to hear this. "For a machine to thinks itself human is probably a violation of every rule humanity holds. Nothing is human but human, that's what I was told. But why design machines to look like people, even the brigs vaguely look like people?"

"Humans are a giant contradiction," Vector added "we say one thing, mean another...don't overload yourself with it..."

"Kind of hard not to.." Sirus smiled faintly "sometimes I have too much free runtime to spare..."

"Humans do that too...aka daydreaming. When we let our minds wander..."

Another faint smile "im not sure if I'm breaking every single rule in my programming by thinking this way. Just after I went to see Aran after that panic attack mission, I forced some of my system to change, even though I could've done permanent damage..."

"...you wanted to write Cortes in as the "controller" of your system, right?" vector finished. Sirus nodded. "I thought at one point I was going to lose my place, id dove so deep into my own programming I thought I was going to get lost....but, it worked....and worth the danger."

"Does he know?"

Sirus blinked "ah, now, I never really mentioned my programming to him....then again...he never asked. Never wanted to I guess..."

"Never HAD to more like. To Cortes your so human it doesn't need to be asked. He's perfectly aware of everything you are, but he doesn't care, he's happy just having you around. And considering he behaved like a grumpy old git prior to meeting you, that's a honking great big improvement. he was always somewhat withdrawn, too tangled up in his work, none of us here ever really seen him relax, not like he does with you. So for him to be so relaxed he doesn't event care what everyone thinks is a long way from who he used to be. And that, is thanks purely to you. So if I were you, id be proud of what you've managed to do, and forget about being a machine..."

Sirus was speechless, Vector had hit the nail on the head there. Somehow he'd said everything that the robot had wanted to hear, as well as a few things he'd never realised before..

At that moment Lena stuck her head in the door "were home.." she blinked, seeing Sirus' stunned/pleased expression. "you OK?"

Sirus blinked, then shook his head slightly like a confused puppy. "im fine..." he smiled.

Vector smiled at Sirus, then headed out the door "lets get planning, we've got to figure out where that ship could be headed..."

* * *

I still LIVE! XD

Random Fact: My graphics PC is going loopy. And i cant do anything about it.


	14. Long Distance Loss

His whole body was wracked with pain, it felt like every inch of him had been bruised and battered. But still he forced himself to his feet, he couldn't afford to lose...yet he could feel how much weaker his power had gotten.

Opposite him Di-Wan barely seemed to be breaking a sweat. She smirked at the messy hair figure in front of her "drained already lab rat?" Another quick blast slammed into his shoulder, shunting him against the wall again, "maybe you shouldn't have wasted so much energy trying to convince those brats to follow you..."

Cortes hadn't realised just how much he'd used against Lukas. Even though he could still force his power in darkness, it required blind fury and a LOT of energy, which was why such fury induced bursts lasted so short a time. The trait of an artificial saijin...

Di-Wan shook her head "Your little guardian angel cant save you this time....though I must admit how you rebooted him so effortlessly is impressive, after the EMP..."

Cortes smirked "he's smarter then you'll ever be, haven't ya ever heard of a contingency plan? He knew you'd pull some lame-ass stunt, so he left something behind to fix the damage if it was dealt..." he felt close to being sick, but seeing a brief snarl of anger cross Di-Wans face made it worth the pain.

"Master Oslo gave you a power beyond any normal human and all you've ever been is ungrateful!" another shot hit him in the stomach and he collapsed to the floor again. From the doorway two brigs watched emotionlessly.

"Like. I said...." Cortes smirked up at her as she hauled him to his feet by his collar "if the fat headed fool didn't want a pirate, he shouldn't kidnapped one. Even Oslo should've known id never work for the likes of YOU!"

He heard Di-Wan growl in fury as he insulted her precious Oslo, then pain shot through his body and he nearly blacked out.

Di-Wan released the body from her grasp. He wasn't dead, that'd be letting him off too easy. But he'd be in severe pain for some time. Until they got back to the block at least..

"We'll be at the ice centre soon enough.." she muttered "then we can keep you under control.."

Cortes could hardly answer, instead he passed out completely.

"You two!" she snapped her fingers at the brigs "dump him in with those brats, and make sure they don't try anything funny, or they'll end up like HIM!"

One of the brigs threw the lifeless figure over its shoulder and marched off, the second following suit arm cannon pointed at the captive...

Diwan growled in anger. That damned pirate really pissed her off, no matter how hard Oslo or she had tried, they hadn't been able to break that defiance. Even the pain Oslo had inflicted on Cortes hadn't been enough to snap his spirit. If anything, he was even more sure of himself now. No doubt that interfering sires had something to do with it...

* * *

The kids were dozing and talking amongst themselves in equal measure to pass the time. Those still awake jumped when the door was flung open. Lukas blearily raised his head from the un comfortable bed he lying on to see who it was. Two of those robots, the ones that'd shepherded them in here, this dormitory of sorts, meant for staff to sleep in most likely.

He watched as they strode past him and the other kids, and dumped something on a bed at the far end of the room. Then they left, giving the kids the same stern warning not to misbehave or they'd be dealt with. Lukas ignored them and closed his eyes again. Then curiosity got the better of him and he sat up, looking over in the direction the brigs had gone...

When he got close enough he seen what it was. That adult from before, the saijin. On ly now he looked like he'd been in a fight with the crocodile from the peter pan story. his clothing was torn in places, cuts and bruises visible, made by saijin power. His hair was loose from the ponytail, and he looked as white as a sheet, which made him look like a ghost.

Again the symbol on his sleeve caught Lukas' attention. The cat-like symbol. He was sure he'd seen it. His parents, had to be..wasnt that why'd he'd been left in that place? So they could get him when the bad fight stopped. he barely thought about it, but now he realised this adult had been telling the truth. A bad person HAD come for them.

The adult had tried to stand up for them. he was like his parents, a fighter. Adults could fight, that was what they did right? Had his parents fought too, with this guy? The cat was the key to it, he knew he'd seen it as a child...on a shirt....he thought it just a pretty picture as a child, but now he knew it had to mean something else...

Without realising, he'd reached down to examine the symbol more closely. As soon as his hand brushed the symbol on the mans sleeve, the figure jerked to life, coughing heavily. Lukas jumped back guiltily. he'd been so busy thinking about his parents he'd forgotten this guy was asleep, and now he'd woken him up...

Heavy coughing occupied the mans waking moments, then when it finally stilled, he cautiously opened his eyes, hazy brown depths staring in an attempt at focusing, at him.

"Whuh? you..." here he coughed again, wincing as he sat up.

"Were you fighting that bad woman?" Lukas blurted at last. Cortes stared b blearily at him, then nodded.

"Yeah...saying we have "unfinished business" is an understatement.." he winced, feeling sick. "You lot, ya OK?"

Lukas shrugged "some of the kids were crying, then they fell asleep, didn't really know what ta do with 'em.." eh looked lost, in away still a child himself.

Cortes smiled "seems like ya did fine..." he said, seeing the dozing kids.

Another listless shrug from Lukas. he seemed a little less uncomfortable talking to an adult. "Why'd she do that ta you?"

Looking at the injuries Cortes laughed "because she's hated me ever since she first heard I existed. I, like so many others, stand between her and getting what she wants. That alone is reason to hate me. And all the rebels.."

"Rebels...." Lukas repeated, staring at the marking again "I know that mark, I think my parents..."

"Were rebels? probably....ive worked with so many I cant remember them all...but I know someone who might...he's got a great memory." he spoke of the Vector, and when he thought about his ship, and Sirus, a look of sadness flickered over his face for a moment.

Lukas fidgeted "sorry I clocked you one before....I thought you were a bad adult...like my parents...they never came back for me..."

Cortes smiled "don't worry, I can understand. When I was a child my father left to join the rebels too, and I was so mad.." he laughed "I thought that because he never came back he didn't wan t me, my brother and my mom, and I hated him..."

Lukas blinked, feeling a little in common with this adult, not so bad anymore maybe? "Did he ever come back? Or ever write?"

Cortes shook his head "im not sure, but I think he's probably either a long way away from my home block, or he's.." he trailed off, not wanting to say it.

Lukas nodded, he thought the same thing about his parents.

"But yours...any of these kids parents, chances are they're still alive...I know someone who may be able to locate them,"

Her Lukas interrupted "you mean they're alive? But why didn't they come back then?"

"If they are still alive, then they probably couldn't even dare come back. The Sphere is still a minor danger, even with Oslo felled. They couldn't risk you kids being in danger, because they wanted skyland to be a safe home for saijins when they came to get you. I'm certain your families still love you as much as ever, they must miss you. But even now, the world is dangerous still for saijins..."

"Our mommies still love us? Then they DO want us?" Cortes jumped, seeing half the kids had gathered around the bed, some clinging to Lukas, others had clambered onto the bed beside him in the short time.

Once he'd gotten over the initial shock, he smiled "they want you back badly, I don't doubt that. To leave someone you love behind hurts, so they'd want to get you back someday, but only when its safe..."

The kids looked from one to another.

"Maybe adults aren't bad.."

"This one isn't..."

"He's a saijin too..."

"I think this adults a good one...they cant be ALL bad right Lukas?" one asked the blonde.

Lukas made an uncommitted shrug again, but he smiled faintly, not quite meeting the captains gaze as he said "yeah, this ones OK...a "good adult".."

Cortes smiled lightly, watching the kids crowded around Lukas. They seemed to look to him as a leader, being he was the oldest.

"All right you brats, enough lazing around!"

Cortes tensed at the voice, then realised it wasn't Di-Wans usual haughty tone, this one sounded younger..

The kids panicked, some whimpered in fright and clung closely to Cortes and Lukas.

The owner of the voice was another saijin, a guardian of course. Di-wan had instructed her to go assemble the kids for testing. And to be wary of the adult. Apparently he was the runaway "Sunlight Gene" test subject. His power was significant, but mostly fuelled by anger, and unstable.

She'd heard about the sun light gene project. Up until recently it had been all hypothetical, simulations done on computers and suchlike. Then Oslo had suddenly urged the project head, Tobias Mi'hen, to conduct a test run on a captured pirate. The whole thing stank of a revenge plot on Oslo's part, but what did she care. The pirates were fools, fighting for a future that would never exist, not if the remaining guardians had their way.

Oslo may have disappeared, but the Sphere wasn't out yet.

She barged past the brigs who stepped aside to let her in, and snapped an annoyed command at the kids. They were all huddled around one of the beds. Getting closer her attention was drawn to the ginger-haired adult. He looked fairly battered, but his expression when she met his gaze was unafraid. If anything it didn't show much emotion at all.

She could sense his power. As Di-Wan said, it didn't FEEL like a normal saijin. It had a darker edge to it, something felt off centre.

"I said move it you lot!" she snapped at the kids. But not taking her eyes off the adult. The kids sniffled and panicked, some clinging to the mans arms as if he could make her go away.

"They're Kids." he spoke at last. "Leave off."

"Hmph, Di-Wan warned me about you- pirate!" she spat, taking in the symbol on the uniform. "You were given power beyond what most people could dream of by Oslo, and you run away like a little ingrate!"

"Better that then one of Oslo's little doormat lackeys!" Cortes spat, "and in case ya hadn't noticed, it was "pirates" that blew up your precious prison, AND, the daughter of a famous rebel who kicked Oslo's sorry ass!"

"You haven't won yet!" she snapped back "there's still enough of us left to rebuild!"

She grabbed a few of the kids and began hauling them away.

"Where are you taking them?!" Lukas yelled.

The saijin looked at him scornfully "to start training, they're going to be guardians after all!"

"ARE YOU NSANE?!" Cortes raged, springing from the bed and stepping towards her, a flare of power illuminating the room.

She barely paused, just waited long enough to slam a burst of power into his stomach, then, as he collapsed to the floor, dragged the kids out of the room.

Lukas began to run after her, but Cortes grabbed his sleeve and shook his head. It was too dangerous..

But Di-Wan had to have lost it, using KIDS are guardians? That was nuts..

"What now?!" Lukas raged.

Cortes closed his eyes, he couldn't contact Sirus or the nazaire at all, his only option was to telepathically try reach Lena, but he barely had the strength to stand..

--I'll need some help...I cant do this by myself..--

But what help could he get? The kids were far too young, and Lukas may be strong, but itd be a big drain on them both....plus they'd have to distract the guardians attention to send it...

"Kids...I have an idea.." he spoke at last. The kiddies quit bawling and/or panicking to look over at him....

* * *

"Did they give you any trouble?" Di-Wan asked as the ginger haired girl came into her office.

She smirked "that adult saijin did get a bit prissy, but he was easily dealt with.."

"So long as we can prevent him from recharging he wont be a threat. Keep him away from sunlight at any cost..."

* * *

Soon enough, various objects were bouncing around the room as the kids seemingly played to keep themselves calm, with Lukas in charge. Should anyone enter the door, the plan was to "accidentally" have a stray book hit them in the face. That should give enough warning to Cortes, who had a plan of his own..

He was sat on the floor by the side of the bed, a book open on his lap. Taking a deep breath he gave Lukas a nod to continue then closed his eyes...

--I hope this works...-- he extended as much power as he dared, somehow dredging as much up from deep inside as he could, the will to piss off Di-Wan as good a catalyst as fury he discovered. The sounds around him blurred as he slipped into a sort of sleep state. Submerged in this murky realm he reached out for the first person he could think of...

* * *

Lena was sleeping on her bed, catching a few Zs in the middle of the day.

_"...ena....LENA!"_

She sat up guiltily, aware her mother frowned on midday naps, saying they messed up her night time sleep.

But she had a minor heart attack when she seen who it belonged to.

"C-Cortes?!" she squeaked, regarding the glimmery blue apparition standing at the end of the bed "is it-?"

_"Yes its me. I don't have long.."_ he looked anxiously over his shoulder as if wherever his body was located was at risk of being found, _"I'm not sure where were headed, but I thought I heard Di-Wan mention the ice quadrant when we fought, something about a training centre?"_ he looked shaky and desperately worried. _"I'm not sure what's going to happen to me and the older kid Lukas, but she wants to train the kids, you have to stop her..."_

Lena nodded, and when the ghostly image held out a hand she took it, instantly receiving all the things he'd seen so far, the fight with Di-Wan, the kids, the new guardian who taken the kids away.

_"Is everyone OK? Sirus..is he..?"_ Cortes asked at last.

"He's worried sick about you, all he's been doing is searching for you, even when the St Nazaire is docked he flies off, nobody's been able to keep tabs on him, he's always off searching. I think he's lost without you, he feels responsible because he didn't go with you-"

_"-tell him to stop being such a goofball, its not his fault...better he's with you then in Di-Wans hands, I don't want him to get hurt a second time, his memories.."_ he shook his head, recalling the anxiety of the kharzhem EMP attack, _"-just tell him-"_

He stopped as he felt a jolt run through him, his expression turned to panic _"-tell 'im I love 'im and I'll find a way to contact you again...please hurry, you have to stop Di-Wan!"_ then he vanished from view.

Back in the room the world shot suddenly into focus and he broke into a heavy coughing fit.

At the door the young saijin girl was trying to elbow past the brigs that were blocking the door. Obviously they'd opened the door to investigate the noise and been bombarded. now they were ordering the "prisoners" to be quiet, and the girl was yelling at them to move aside. Luckily she didn't seem to have noticed Cortes, who was staring blearily in their direction.

When she did finally get in, she glowered at the kids, telling them "brats should just shut up". Her gaze darted about the room until she spied Cortes. To her he simply looked as battered and bruised as before, reading a reference book from the shelf. It seemed he given up throwing ahissy fit.

--Smart move, Di-Wans get plans for payback involving you, your better off just giving in...--

Had she gotten closer she'd have seen the smirk hidden behind the messy hair. Cortes was FAR from giving up...

* * *

Lena pegged it out of her room, going on a search for Sirus. Mid way towards the tavern she came across cheng, who was trying, and failing apparently, to talk to pratucchi.

From what she could hear cheng was after parts to salvage an old s22 that'd been shot down. Itd crashed on pureto angel after being shot at, and was quickly hidden from sight. Wayan had given it to cheng to keep the kid occupied and stop he worrying about the fate of his missing foster father.

"Beat it twerp" was the first comment she heard clearly as she stood behind cheng. Pratucchi shooed cheng away from him, scowling even more when he seen Lena. He hadn't forgotten the trouble he'd gotten into for not only chasing and trying to hurt her, but also for attacking Cortes when he intervened.

Lena gave pratucchi the meanest look she had going, then smiled at cheng "what's up?"

Cheng shrugged listlessly "he's being a jerk, he wont listen to me because im a kid.."

Lena sighed, patting his shoulder understandingly "he's a jerk to ALL the kids, heck, he's a jerk full stop! NO point in asking him. He probably doesn't even know what your looking for looks like!"

She seen pratucchi twitch at this, and grinned, knowing shed gotten to him. Or his ego anyway...

"What're you up to?" cheng asked, switching the subject and offering her a smile.

"I'm looking for Sirus actually...ya seen him at all?" she asked hopefully.

Cheng shook his with a sigh "good luck, nobody's been able to keep track of him. Hes goes out with the water carriers but apparently flies off when they stop to fill up..wherevers he's going to, its much further the normal..."

"But why?" Lena asked.

Cheng shrugged "beats me, but I heard someone say he took off with a large backpack last time...what on earth for?"

Lena could only shake her head. "well, maybe you could ask him about the parts, he must know how to fix machinery. He fixed the computer pretty good!"

"Yeah.." cheng smiled faintly "now we got to just wait and hope we catch him!"

As it was, they had little time to wait. A shadow flitted across the sun, and they both looked up. A few seconds later, the subject of their talk dropped down from the air, landing gracefully on his feet. The massive wings stayed folded out for a second, the sunlight glinting off the myriad of metal feathers, creating an amazing effect, as if they were covered in gold for a brief moment. then there was a snapping, sound as they swiftly compressed down to a much smaller size, the feathers layering over each other. Within a few seconds, a two metre wingspan reduced to a size that pressed snugly against his back.

"Whoa..." cheng gawped "I've never seen anything like that before!"

It was true, Sirus rarely took off the heavy jacket he wore to cover them, now it was tied around his middle..

Around him, people stared in astonishment, the responses copying chengs. The wings were eerily sharp, but seeing that little display was at the same time quite breathtaking. He literally did resemble an angel…

He was clutching a large backpack just as cheng said, and his gaze was preoccupied for a moment as he steadied himself after folding the wings back in.

The two kids ran over as his focus snapped back to normal.

"Hey!" Lena greeted him with a smile "where've you been.."

Sirus blinked, his response slightly delayed "oh uh...a way off.." he gave a quadrant name and cheng had to do a double take.

"Out THERE?! But that's miles away, I mean literally! It takes the carriers hours to fly out..."

"I left last night..." was his answer. He was still hugging the backpack, and cheng asked him what was in it.

"Oh uh..just a few things I noticed we needed around here...well, actually.." he dug a piece of paper from his pocket "I just followed this.."

Cheng stared "that's the list of parts I need for the patroller...I was wondering where itd gone.."

"You left it on the table in the tavern.." Sirus smiled, setting the backpack at cheng's feet. "Its all in there...I raided a few I found crashed and burnt on an old block...and when I asked around people even gave me the stuff, ya got a lot of them "crashing" out there.."

Chengs face was one big grin from end to end, "This is AWESOME! I can fix it! It'll fly!" He tackle hugged the angel much the same way he sometimes did to Cortes when the other let him have something he'd always wanted.

Sirus smiled faintly and patted his hair "not a problem, im sure you'll have no trouble getting it to work.."

Lena smiled, but she could see something was off. Sirus' smile wasn't the same as it used to be...something was different, there was a look in his eyes she couldn't pin. But she knew what was causing it. He was missing Cortes so badly. He held himself responsible for his lover's disappearance.

She waited until cheng had raced off to start work, then she walked after him as he headed for the tavern.

"I have a message for you...from Cortes.."

This alone was enough to make Sirus stop so abruptly she thought he'd had a power outage.

"From Aran?!" he asked, his voice a whisper "but how?"

They sat down on a nearby bench and she recounted the whole event down to the smallest detail.

When she told him the message Cortes had asked her to give him, those three simple words, he looked a mixture of saddened and hopeful. It reminded him of how far his precious Aran was, but it meant he was still OK...

He closed his eyes, hearing that message repeated in his mind, in Aran's voice. He wanted to respond to it so badly, but what could he do? He wasn't a saijin, he couldn't contact him. Frustration and sadness battled internally, each trying to get the upper hand.

Lena watched the conflicting emotions in his expression and felt a surge of sympathy. She'd felt the same when her mother had been missing, she knew the worry that tormented you whenever you got a piece of news, but there was always hope...

"Don't give up...we'll get him back! He saved our mom so me and Mahad are going to make double sure we repay him!"

He at last opened his eyes, looking so close to misery she hugged him to try cheer him up.

"Nobody here's going to let that mad cow take him away again! Were working on a way...cheng said we could always use the patroller for a decoy once its fixed up! All we got to do is locate him and we can go get him! There's only so many Sphere prisons or labs, sooner or later we'll find it!"

At last a smile broke into the worried miserable look on Sirus face. "Yeah.." he said softly "I know. I don't intend to let that crazy-" here had to restrain himself from cursing "-woman hurt him any more....its just...I cant stand waiting around while Aran could be in danger!"

He took a deep breath and sighed, shaking his head "sorry. Bad file. I shouldn't be ranting on like this. I know you and Mahad must've felt the same way before, its horrible...but im getting him back one way or another..."

Lena nodded "I know...but don't keep going solo, everyone's concerned about all these trips your making. Flying all that way must use up a lot of power...you seem kind of dozy, no offence.."

Sirus laughed "no, your right...the...main core is at 37% now.."

"That's pretty far down...how far before its critical?" she asked, worried.

"15%...past that and its not enough to keep running, ill go on a standby mode of sorts...kind of like chengs laptop when the battery starts dieing...save all current data and switch off.."

"Then go sleep, or go use the generator in the Vector's lab!" Lena interjected "your no use to yourself or Cortes if your staggering around like a zombie because your running your core all day doing transatlantic flights! I know you want the info, but there are easier ways.." she took a deep breath "stop blaming yourself, you couldn't have known!"

Sirus was silent for a few moments. Nobody had really tried to talk him out of his manic searching, he'd just figured they didn't mind. but now he realised it was probably because they didn't think he'd listen if they said what Lena did...

"I guess.." he laughed softly "I do have a one track file queue, and arans always been at the top of it...I cant help it..."

Lena smiled "go rest and recharge at least...then talk to Wayan and the others...we'll find something..."

* * *

The next day the Nazaire was set to go. Mahad had picked up some info about an old friend from Babylonia, and she might be of help. Needless to say Sirus showed up as soon as the mission was announced.

Vector studied the mechanical human as he stood at the window by the rear canon. He was staring blankly into the distance, as if something was taking up all his concentration.

"Right" Wayan said, butting into the silence "gather round guys" And the whole crew assembled around the screen cheng sat at. A map sprung up on it and mahad pointed out the spot where the transmission had come from. Sirus walked up behind Wayan, studying and memorizing the map in detail.

There was a funny buzzing in his head he couldn't get rid of. And now it was getting stronger…

Wayan was all set to give everyone their orders when a loud, unexpected sneeze sounded from behind him. he jumped, whipping round to look at the angel, who had a hand clamped to his face, looking slightly embarrassed.

"Sorry.." he squeaked.

"Did...you just sneeze..?" Wayan blinked at him. "I thought your system couldn't.."

"Its not supposed-" the angel shivered slightly as a second abrupt sneeze interrupted him -"supposed to..."

Dahlia frowned "well that weird...if its not supposed to be able to, why is it doing it?"

Sirus waited a moment to be sure no more were coming, the shook himself slightly "I don't know. I-it's probably just a corrupted file...they do go a bit funny sometimes..."

He turned and made towards the rear canon again, but mid way he suddenly swerved slightly sideways and clocked his head off a protruding pipe. This actually stopped him in his tracks while he exhausted every profane word his internal database had. Then he calmly carried on.

Dahlia shook her head in bemusement "something is DEFINATLY up with him..hes never acted this odd before..."

Vector frowned "it is unusual, he keeps spacing out as well..."

"But he's partially a computer isn't he? How can a computer sneeze? I mean, I know he's designed to be human, but im sure he said he couldn't catch an illness..." added Wayan.

"Computers work with a certain amount of memory only.." cheng explained "if one program is using up a lot of the runtime, everything else kind of gets sidelined.."

"So.." Wayan thought about it "is something he's working on using up all the power as it were?"

"Its got to be pretty big..." Dahlia speculated.

Vector continued to wonder about what was wrong even as they all got to work. Maybe it was just an isolated incident...or was something really wrong?

* * *

More fic!

Random Fact: Dahlias voice actor in the english version is the same woman who did Claire Redfield in the Resident Evil games and animated movie! (look on youtube for clips)


	15. Devils With The Details

But sadly it was not as such. Sirus' enhanced ditziness became evident as the day wore on. he actually fell over walking down one of the corridors, and when people spoke to him he seemed to be slightly slower then usual in responding. But he still insisted he was fine.

Cheng decided to test a theory. Under the pretence he needed to borrow the angels processing power, he persuaded him to connect to the Nazaire's database. What it actually was, was a secluded server. Cheng had quarantined it as it were, with a few of his home made programs lying in wait, so whatever was wrong wouldn't spread to the nazaire.

Now he just had to wait. As it was it didn't take long. Partway through his working out the problem Cheng had created, Sirus sneezed again. On screen an error message flashed up, and it was followed by a bunch of windows opening, all displaying different results.

The error simply read "error processing the file, it may be corrupt. re-try/cancel?", and the lettering on the top ID'd it as coming from Sirus' system.

"I got it!" Cheng cheered a second later.

"Got what? Vector and Lena both asked.

Cheng pointed at one of the boxes "Its a virus."

"But i thought.." Sirus added, then sneezed again, producing the same error.

"Not a normal virus...a COMPUTER virus..." Cheng said smugly.

"But how?" Lena asked.

"How come I didn't notice?" Sirus added.

"You were always connected to the monolith before right? A big network like that would be pretty well maintained, so you've never come across a computer virus. you wouldn't know what to look for."

"How did it get on there..?" Vector asked.

"I'd say from any computer you've been connected to lately...you did say you went looking for info right...so you must've used computers.."

Sirus nodded " a fair few...but im fairly sure I was fitted with some sort of basic protection against that..mihen told me I stood a very low risk of picking up problem files when I first connected to the computer at puerto angel.."

Cheng pointed to another window "you do, and up until recently its been working fine...but according to the logs the programs functioning at its weakest level lately, it wasn't enough to stop it getting past.."

"Hence why you've been acting so weird lately.." Lena realised "but, how do you get rid of it.."

"Well his own anti-virus as it were is too weak because the whole systems strained....I can remove it from here.."

"You've been pushing yourself too hard.." Vector said to Sirus, who fidgeted guiltily "your not indestructible you know! Cortes'll go nuts if he finds out we let you get into such a state!"

"Sorry.." Sirus sighed at last "I just.." but Vector cut him off "I know, I know. You just want to find Cortes"

Several minutes later Cheng had easily cleaned the angels system of the virus. It had required a quick reboot of the system, but that took only 30 seconds, and the process was complete.

It was a relief to Sirus to finally feel back to normal. No more buzzing in his head, all system files running properly, the anti-virus was back up again.

He hopped up the steps to the steering part of the ship, where his precious Aran normally worked. With the map programmed into his database, he could plot a course and follow it without having to keep checking the maps.

* * *

Down at the front of the ship Lena was back talking to Wayan and dahlia.

"So what's wrong?" the blonde girl asked.

"Computer virus, apparently..." Lena repeated what Cheng had said.

"So all that running around like a blue arsed fly meant the virus got on and he didn't have a clue?" Wayan shook his head "I guess being partly a computer it should've been obvious, a COMPUTER virus.."

"Yeah.." dahlia thought about it "but on the other hand, he was created on the monolith, and I bet he had a whole bunch of technicians and such to take care of any problems for him. Out on his own he wouldn't have a clue how to do that stuff.."

"But what about that guy we pulled off the block awhile ago?" Lena asked.

"Him?" Wayan frowned "I think he said he was a geneticist or something, he was working on that gene project thing, hence why the captain flipped out when he seen him.."

They all thought back to the incident, it had to have been hard for Cortes to let the guy stay, but in the end he had. He still had a problem where he got extremely tetchy around the guy...

"I swear I'll kick Di-wans ass if she's done anything to him.." Wayan muttered, and dahlia nodded.

"That bitch- sorry for the language- is a delusional nut job who's going to get what's coming to her..."

"You'll haveta get in line.." Lena said in amusement "I think Sirus is lining her up as primary target, anything that gets in his way'll be burgetmeat.."

"He said that?" Wayan asked.

Lena giggled "I overheard him saying it to Vector, only the way he phrased it was far more rude.."

Dahlia shook his head "who taught him all those rude words? It wasn't me.."

Wayan looked sheepish "I taught him a few of them...maybe he looked it up on the database...or just overheard pratucchi having a regular conversation. That guy curses just as bad..."

Dahlia laughed "he's like a parrot, he repeats what he hears...cortes'd laugh his head off if he heard half the words Sirus uses.."

"I know!" Lena laughed "I swear I heard him say "bun of a stitch", although I think that was a corrupted file..."

All three had a snigger at that one, bun of a stitch? what did it even mean?

But behind the laughs they all wondered if Cortes was OK, if they could just find where diwan had taken him..

"Almost there!"

The angels voice butted into the laughs, and they felt the hope intensify. If this person knew anything about the place the kids and Cortes had b been taken too..

Up ahead a massive ship loomed out of the murky clouds. It was easily way bigger then the Nazaire, painted in red and white. Around it lots of mosquito ships buzzed, but they were mostly painted red, with other markings on them.

Letting the ship stop Sirus jumped down from the steering section, heading outside.

* * *

Mahad and Lena jumped into the Hyperion, and the angel followed them by himself as they flew over to the other ship.

A gaggle of people were crowded around one of the mosquitoes, at the centre was a girl with black hair and a star tattoo on her cheek.

Hearing a ships engines she turned in time to see the Hyperion land. Nothing unusual there, she could see who it was in the pilot seat. But she got a fright when someone else landed on the deck by the Hyperion.

Their collective jaws dropped as the metal wings folded in with their usual strange beauty. The light made them shine brightly for a second before the vanished. Mahad and his sister jumped down from the cockpit and joined the guy with the wings as he strode over to them.

"Mahad..nice to see ya.." she managed a confident grin. "and Lena, haven't seen you in years!"

Lena waved and offered a cheerful greeting, Mahad gave his old friend a high five and grinned again in return "long time no see Lucretia! how's things?"

"Not bad...im leader of the wind devils now!" she said smugly. Mahad nodded in approval.

"Nice work, who'd have dreamed little Lucretia of babylonia'd go so far!"

"We steal water, bug the Sphere, and best of all...we wave surf!" she indicated the customised craft.

"Pretty sweat deal. Its been ages since I last got to wave surf.." Mahad said enviously.

"Yeah well this area is famed for 'em..." she at last turned the acknowlemnt to the others. Well, Sirus at any rate.

"Who're you? Or maybe its a case of what are you..ive seen all sorts but ive never seen anything remotely like you.."

"He's a one of a kind...literally" Mahad added.

"My name's Sirus, Mahad told me about you. I was hoping you could help me, I need to locate somebody.." He pulled a picture from his pocket "namely this man.."

Lucretia and her assembled crew crowded round to take a look at the photo.

She shook her head and handed it back "I haven't seen him around anywhere, and haven't heard a description matching him either..."

Sirus looked disappointed but he forced it to fade "what about a ship?" he described the vessel that diwan had been seen with.

"NOW that I might be able to help with.." Lucretia answered frowning a little "we did see a ship like that, only briefly, it took off at high speed when he tried to board it. We thought it was a water carrier.."

"Its a science vessel, the Sphere conducted experiments on humans..." Sirus said, the fury in his voice evident.

Lucretia pulled a disgusted face "that's vile, ive heard snippets of rumours but I didn't think it really went on, I thought it was like an urban myth.."

Sirus shook his head "its true. And the pirates are the main targets.." shaking himself of the memory he looked at her again "what about transmissions. Have you picked up anything unusual.."

"Hold on there speedy, we don't just give this kind of info out-" she began but Sirus interrupted her, something like a smirk on his face.

"What about Sphere security codes? You'd be able to take remote control of the water carriers if you had the sequence...or there's always directions to the Spheres prisons, most of them have a lotta parts entire blocs'd pay a lot to get their hands on.."

Mahad gaped at him "you know all that?!"

Lena shook her head "Mahad, he has all the co-ordinates, remember how we got to kharzhem? Oslo downloaded all the useful stuff onto him.."

Luicratias eyes were on stalks and it took a few seconds to get her speech back "well when ya put it that way, im sure we can find what your after.."

Sirus sighed internally, he'd been worried it wouldn't be enough, but it seemed the chance to pilfer Sphere stuff still held a certain appeal.

She told them to follow her and he could only hope this would be the big clue they'd all been searching for..

* * *

On the way there Lucretia had a few questions both she and her crew wanted answers to.

"I'm going to take a guess and say Oslo built ya, but I doubt he's the type to let an expensive toy like you just get up and go off on your own is he?"

"No, I left of my own free will. Oslo didn't realise the risk of Ai is it'll mimic a human and make its own choices. He assumed he'd be able to use the same commands as the brigs on me, the fool"

Lucretia raised an eyebrow "ya really hate they guy huh?"

"Precisely. His biggest mistake was giving me free reign to talk to the prisoners. He assumed id copy him and use torture tactics to get what I wanted." he shrugged "I just asked them to tell me everything, why Oslo had kidnapped or arrested them, what everything outside the damn monolith was like. I realised soon enough the world extended far beyond that awful ship, he expected to keep me confined to that prison ship, but anything with a brain, artificial or otherwise, is going to get curious.."

"So this guy that's missing, he somebody important?" she asked.

Sirus didn't even hesitate in answering "more then you'll ever know.."

She nodded, understanding the situation now. Blondie here was looking for a missing "friend", innuendo intended...

She led them to a big room on her ship, full of monitors and speakers.

"Here's where we record all the Sphere transmissions, if there's anything here about your missing friend, these guys'll find it!" she gestured to the three guys sat at this info centre. Theyre turned to greet Lucretia, staring at the visitors. Sirus fidgeted, unused to being scrutinised like this. news had obviously spread about him being a non human.

One of them, while Lucretia was explaining to the one in charge what she wanted, got up and sidled behind Sirus.

"Hey you were right, they are wings! Its him!" he said out loud, one of the others leaned over his chair and smirked.

"Told ya so, I knew the Sphere had something advanced up there sleeve, but even I didn't guess he'd be this realistic! the radio transmissions didn't give much detail!"

Sirus looked like a startled deer, he backed away as the kid leaned in to study the wings. In may have been a nervous reaction, he'd gotten sued to puerto angels residents not blinking twice at his unusual abilities, and the4se two were making him uneasy. the wings unfolded partway, as his system diagnosed it as a threat. The glittering feathers sent patterns of light scampering over the walls as the polished metal reflected the screens.

"Hey back off!" Mahad stepped between Sirus and the gawping kid "he's not some sideshow freak for you to stare at! What's wrong with ya?!"

"Sorry man, but ive known about this guy before you probably even met him!" the kid sat at the bank smirked.

"What're you on about?" Lena asked.

"There were rumours going about for YEARS about the Sphere building some secret weapon, I thought it was just a conspiracy theory, but then we started getting transmissions recently, about stolen tech, they codenamed it "fallen angel". They had a manhunt out for awhile...but nobody would tell them, even when they offered rewards..." he shrugged "most people probably didn't even know what he looked like, best way to conceal a weapon, disguise it as a human. I figured it out when they still didn't find it, looking human it could blend in just about anywhere.."

Sirus had been silent this whole time, the wings were still partly opened, Lena figured he was trying to restrain his panic induced combat modes, like the one that'd shown up the day Cortes had been kidnapped.

"I'm going to take a guess an' say you're trained to attack and destroy," the guy said, directing this at Sirus "pretty amazing, a weapon with a conscience-"

Thwack. Lena had stepped up to him and hit him over the head with a book shed scooped up from the console.

"Leave him alone!" she said crossly "at least he ACTS human, which is what you are NOT!" she looked on the verge of getting very upset.

"She's right, shut up Matt" Lucretia snapped. "Leave the guy alone...you're just jealous because he actually HAS an IQ, which is more then I can say for YOU right now!"

Suitably embarrassed, and quilted by lenas outburst, Matt sighed and hung his head slightly.

"Sorry, I didn't mean ta wind ya up, technology's my key area, and the rumours about you have been a pet project of mine...I guess its startling to see the real thing up close. You sure damn don't LOOK like a threat.." This he finally addressed to Sirus.

The angel had to forcibly tell his system it wasn't an attack, and after a second the wings folded in, and he slumped against the bulkhead nearest.

"Doesn't matter.." he muttered.

"You sure your OK?" the guy asked "I didn't mean to cause ya grief.."

Sirus shook his head, offering a tentative smile "its fine...just a minor problem with my programming. It still reacts a little strongly, since I modded it anyway.."

Matt's eyebrows almost shot off his face "you modded your own SYSTEM?" he screeched "don't you realise how dangerous that is."

Sirus gave him a look that said "don't be an idiot" "of course I knew. I wanted to sever as many links to Oslo as possible. Including the parts that detail the defence protocol, and the biggest bit that actually had that GIT listed as the controller.." he scowled in memory.

"You switched it huh..pretty good, you switched it so now that guy cant come after you right?"

Sirus thought about it, that wasn't the real reason at all "well.....more or less.." he said, with an innocent expression. Both Lena and Mahad had to hide identical grins. They knew.

"All right, enough goofing about, lets get down to this deal!" Lucretia finally broke in to the mood. She sat down beside matt, with Sirus on the other side of the guy.

"Righty, what're we looking for?" he asked.

"Any transmissions mentioning new prisoners, namely kids, or references to the ice quadrant of-" he gave the name where the orphanage was.

"Right, lets sift through..." Matt ran his hands over the keyboard, playing snippets of transmissions, then he suddenly stopped "this was awhile after the hunt for you was called off, we overheard this not that long ago..." he pressed play.

"We'll be there shortly, have suitable restraint protocols ready!" that's was Di-wans voice.

"Yes ma'am, what kind of power are we dealing with?" an unknown male voice.

"The escaped test subject Alpha 0."

"Alpha 0? The gene project test subject? But it thought he was dead.."

"On the contrary, he's very much alive, as it happens he w3as in the company of Model 0."

"You mean Sirus ma'am? But all the logs say he was destroyed? are you saying he's still alive?"

"Of course he is you idiot! !That was just a rumour we spread, wed hoped he'd let his guard down and venture into the open so we could shut him down! But would you know it, the bastards more intelligent then I first guessed. Doesn't help that idiot pirate has been fiddling with his programming. I told commander Oslo it was a mistake to give him full control of his own mind, all it took was one pirate and he turned on us.." an angry sigh "forget that, its unimportant. My point is, ready the necessary materials needed to restrain asaijin. His powers unstable, but its strong, we cant risk him escaping again..."

"Roger that, it'll be ready."

Then it cut off.

Sirus was silent, then he added scornfully "I was wanting to get outta that dump for several MONTHS prior to meeting "that pirate", actually.."

He looked so annoyed, that Lucretia couldn't help giggle "I bet you were, cant blame you either..." she added.

"Any others?" Sirus asked.

Matt shook his head "that's the only one we've got that distinctly mentions a prisoner...the others just mention a raid, and before that they mention you mostly, di-wan was pissed she couldn't find you..."

Sirus nodded, grabbing a piece of paper and scribbling several co-ordinates down "these are for the prison, the monolith crashed there...and these are all the Sphere buildings I can remember at short notice..."

Matt nodded, glancing over them "awesome e need some new gear." he drew a map up on screen "the ice quads here, we suspect the base is here-" he tapped at a spot on the screen "ya need the coordinates?"

Sirus blinked, having scanned the maps data. "they're these, right?" he rattled off the exact match. Matt stared, then grinned "internal memory, that's freaking awesome.."

This earn a small smile from the angel "I guess calling it a photographic memory isn't far off the mark..."

He got up to go, thanking Matt and Lucretia for their help.

"Not a problem", Lucretia grinned, "you've been a great help to us too~"

Mahad promised he'd come back and wave sail with them sometime soon, and they left.

* * *

On the way back to the ship, Sirus pondered over just how much that kid had known about him. For some reason eh felt unsettled, suddenly brought back to earth about what he was. a Sphere tech, a walking hard drive. A weapon....with a conscience...

He followed the kids back on board, heading straight for Aran's room. There he curled up on the bed, closing his eyes. The linen on the bed held that same lovely smell as the person he missed so badly..

He was informed that Christophe had caught up to them from puerto angel, he'd apparently gone to acquire a few useful tools for their mission and had said he'd catch up later. Somehow Sirus had forgotten completely..

--Maybe Di-wans right. Building an AI is dangerous....once it starts being treated as human, it becomes too attached to that humanity. But. Aran never cared about what I was, hell, he said he didn't even cop on until he seen me use the wings the first time. But...what right do I have to let myself get so carried away?-- he groaned softly, massaging his forehead, it felt like something was going to overheat in a second.

--I guess this is what humans call a headache...-- he wondered.

* * *

Back on the bridge, Cheng was just about to shut the remote link to Sirus off. He forgot he'd left in on when Sirus had had the virus removed. As it was, all it had recorded were some system stats. But as he reached to disconnect it, a warning window popped up. It as warning the CPU was stressed, an influx of info was pouring in that it was too overheated to deal with.

--Dang, I didn't think to check if his CPU was OK, his performance stats seemed fine so I didn't look..-- Cheng panicked. He got up from his seat, grabbing his laptop as he did, and legged for Cortes' room.

Inside his fears were confirmed. The normally calm angel was curled up on the bed, pain written all over his face.

"Agh, damnit..." he muttered as his head pounded again.

"You have to calm down....your CPUs stressed to break point..." Cheng raced over, shaking his arm "you've been stressing it too much lately, when did you last go into any sort of standby?"

Sirus winced "a few days. I think.."

Cheng shook his head "no wonder you're all over the place, no computer can handle that much work, not even YOURS. Super-computer or not, a few days is pushing it. If you don't rest you'll burn out. And you wont be able to get to see Cortes again. You wreck your system that's it!"

"blearily Sirus at last looked up "sorry.." he said "I guess I forgot im not like humans...unless its strictly told to, my system will stay on, so long as its got core power..."

"Well go sleep, NOW" Cheng ordered "ill sort out whatever info you got later.."

This earned a grateful smile "yeah.." Sirus admitted at last, the pounding easing slightly "just for awhile, then..."

Cheng nodded, watching until he was certain the angel was asleep, then found a spare blanket and dragged it over him.

* * *

Back on the bridge, Vector was staring at the screen.

"Anyone know what "Unit currently offline" means? Says here something's on standby...it was bleating alerts at me a moment ago and Cheng vanished. Its not the ships databank is it?"

Lena shook her head, tapping a few keys "don't think so.." she said.

"Its OK, its the remote link to Sirus, that's all.." Cheng announced as he reappeared.

"Offline? Is he OK?" Lena asked worried.

"He's fine. Or he will be. His core was overheating from trying to process to much...put simply he was tired. He was in danger of an overload so I told him to shut down for awhile...just long enough to let the system rest" he sighed "he's all over the place, viruses, system strain...he really does miss Cortes doesn't he?"

Vector nodded "he's the systems controller now...his being gone is what's doing this. Its a part of his systems, when the target or master is gone, the system probably has settings that launch it to take any and every available route to retrieving the controller.."

Cheng nodded "exactly...so that's what launched his obsessive flights and info seeking...I guess he literally cant help it.."

* * *

Cortes meanwhile was trapped in a nightmare of his own. Once they'd arrived at some centre, he'd been separated from the kids, frogmarched to some lab room, which brought back gut wrenching memories. The room was full of test equipment, an operating table. Just like the one he'd been tied down to.

He fought against the brigs restraining him, but it was no good. He couldn't get loose.

Someone was approaching him, a guy in a doctors coat. He was saying something to Di-wan, who was out of sight behind Cortes, but Cortes couldn't make it out.

Then he felt that familiar sickening sensation of a needle puncturing his neck while he stood, frozen by his own fear.

A moment of sheer panic, an attempt to fight. Then blackness rushed up to meet him as the sedative took effect...

"What now?" the doctor asked, once the patient was securely strapped down to the bed.

"Just keep him heavily sedated, use whatever's necessary, put him into a coma if you have to, just don't let him wake up unless I say so!" Di-wan ordered "he's too dangerous awake...until I can do something about him, he's better off this way.."

Then she turned and left. Getting her hands on that miserable pirate felt good, now if she could just destroy that traitor Sirus, everything's be fine...

* * *

If it had been a dreamless sleep perhaps Cortes would've felt better. But it wasn't. Trapped in this deep sleep, his mind was free to flood itself with panic and nightmare. Long suppressed memories of the original op, the fights with Di-wan, Oslo...

Then a new nightmare formed. He was standing in a trashed Sphere building. All around lay broken machinery, crackling and buzzing. Tell tale laser marks meant...the rebels? He ran forward, hearing no sound from his own footsteps.

Up ahead, voices.

"He here?"

"No"

"That's fine, its best we don't find him....we cant risk bringing one of the Sphere back with us.."

"Exactly...we cant trust him.."

Those voices, Wayan and dahlia.

Around the corner, there they were.

"HEY! HEYY!" he screamed desperately, trying to race after them, but they just kept walking, away from him....

Then everything changed. He was standing outside, staring up at the stars. It was raining but he couldn't hear a thing. Like he was completely alone...

He turned and was back in an empty corridor. Running down it he could hear a voice screaming for help, one he knew too well. His own, this was the memory of what Oslo had done to him...

..then it was puerto angel, he was home..

But something wasn't right, people were gathered around a memorial. He elbowed through the crowd, hearing disjointed voices.

"It's better this way. We couldn't have trusted him here, he was with the Sphere after all.."

"Exactly, we don't need a potential spy here.."

He elbowed through the ghostly crowd, reaching the front, seeing who it was they were talking about.

It was himself.

They wanted him gone? dead?

He could hear the crowd starting to laugh, as if now they seen him there.

"I'm NOT a sphere, why wont you understand!!" he shouted at them.

"Don't pull that one, we all KNOW you're one of them now...did you really want to escape? You had power, you were with the Sphere for days and days...long enough to switch sides.."

"NOW who's being stupid!" Cortes raged "listen to yourself, you're not making any sense!"

"Are you the same you?" another voice asked. Cortes paused. Was he?

He wasn't, he was a saijin experiment. Maybe people thought he was different after the experiment...how could he convince them when he couldn't convince himself..?

Am I still the same? he asked himself..

Around him everything blurred, then he was pulled into the darkness of true sleep...

* * *

He thought he'd woken some time later, but he soon realised it was a dream. He was standing out on the grassy hill leading up to the vectors lighthouse.

Staring into the distance, he felt a hand alight on his shoulder. turning he was faced with a mirror image of himself.

The image smiled, a genuine smile.

-I'm still here..- it spoke, its words echoing in his mind --I haven't gone. The real you, the person everyone is seeking, hasn't gone anywhere..-- he was standing face to face now, looking at his own reflection --we're the same..dont forget that. Its only your body that's changed. not your mind, your heart..--

"But.." Cortes stammered, not understanding "why cant I believe that..? everyone...my dreams.."

--They have not abandoned you at all...don't you remember..?-- here the copy spoke in a voice that made Cortes chest tighten ""please Cortes...don't do this to yourself, nobody here thinks that. They put together that whole plan just to rescue you, nothing else! Trust me...ive never tried to hurt you. Have I?"

Sirus' voice.

--He's right...no-ones doubting you. Your doubting yourself. Think about it. How happy they were to find you again..--

He remembered.

Wayan grinning all over his face when he seen Cortes back on the ship. Vectors concern over his state of mind, Lena worrying about how he was coping with the new powers, encouraging him to use them. Mila, telling him she'd be there to help him train. Sirus, keeping him close, never letting go even when Cortes had felt he was standing too close to the edge. That person had saved him from ruining himself back then. NO matter how much he'd tried to berate himself, hurt himself for what he was, the angel had simply waited until he was calm and then wrapped his arms around him until he felt better.

The whole time he'd been trapped, all he'd thought of was his home, his friends. He'd missed them, they'd missed him.

--There...you see? The last thing anyone's accused of is being a traitor....and lets face it, Pratucchi's a jerk anyway. He's not the one you should listen to...listen to your friends...yourself..."

* * *

The doc in charge of babysitting the captive was startled to see the man was smiling in his sleep. Very unusual...

* * *

"At the risk of sounding stupid, are we there yet?" Mahad piped up.

"At the risk of?" Sirus enquired, and Mahad glowered at him, which only made the angel laugh.

"Hee, he's got you there Mahad!" Lena giggled.

"Thanks sis," Mahad complained, but he was smiling..

"And in fact, we ARE nearly there...." Sirus added, serious again. "Wed better not get too close, we need to get in there preferably without being detected." he smiled "Aran did often say turning up in fully armed warship is a dead giveaway..."

"So what's the plan..." Wayan asked.

"Well, the best we can do is cause a diversion out here, and go in in a mosquitoe..well, I can fly in..."

Mahad pointed at a Sphere ship approaching "distract that then!"

Sirus grinned, "perfect!" he suddenly dashed outside, kicking off from the deck at such a speed the windows rattled from the back draft. The wings spread out to full length as he shot up into the sun. A few laser blasts followed him up, but flipping over in mid air meant they missed by a wide mile. Before the gunner could lock sights on him again he was round the back of the craft, looking for the access panel, there!

A swift kick knocked the covering off, and still holding onto the craft he quickly switched two of the wires, the entrance door opened and the lift came down. Hopping on he grinned, shooting the brig with the laser pistol before it could register who he was. Flinging it off the chair he sat himself down, quickly getting the craft level again.

From the craft the whole crew watched in amazement.

"That was pretty cool," Mahad admitted "best s-22 takeover ive seen in awhile!"

The radio blare into life "right, ive got this thing rigged to the original brigs code, Mahad, Lena and anyone else who's coming, hop on!"

* * *

In the end it was Mahad, Lena, Wayan and Chris who squidged onto the cramped ship.

Sirus started at the control panel and types in a few commands before setting off for the ice lab ahead.

From the ship the others promised to keep watch, and wait for their signal. To come in guns blazing if needs be...

Wayan noticed Sirus tucking something behind his ear, it turned out the AI had a connection port hidden behind the fluffy blonde hair, barely noticeable unless he pointed it out. Using a spare cable he connected his own main frame to the ships.

"What're ya doing?" Mahad asked.

"You'll see.." Sirus grinned running a program he'd been working on for some time...

"Identify yourselves!" another brig voice blurted from the speakers.

Sirus coughed, gave the others a cheeky wink, then proceeded to blag his way in. Whatever he said, there was a moments delay and it was rephrased in a brigs exact tone of voice. He informed the controller had prisoners on board, pirates.

"Proceed" the voice said, then cut the link.

Sirus twisted round in the chair, to see everyone staring at him with their mouths open.

"That was AWESOME!" Mahad crowed "d'you do that yourself?!"

Sirus chuckled "I was going to mess around with it, make prank calls to the Sphere...but I guess it has a more useful purpose now..."

Mahad clapped him on the shoulder, laughing like a loon "oh man that's priceless, nice one!"

Sirus smiled, he had plans to pay pratucchi back using it, but that was a plan for another day...

--But none of that matters unless I get you back Aran...-- he thought, as he docked the ship. He motioned the others behind him and stepped out…

* * *

Heeere we go, at long last! XD


	16. AI Automated Intervention

Mahads laughter made him smile faintly, but a single thought ate away at him; --But none of that'll matter unless I get you back Aran...-- he thought as he docked the ship. He motioned the others behind him and stepped out.

The unit waiting turned to face him, scanned him and raised the arm cannon

"Unauthorized intruder, Model 0 - orders are to destroy-" it didn't get any further, as a pistol shot blasted its head off.

"Model 0?" Mahad enquired. Sirus shrugged.

"It was my creator who gave me a name...said it was too hard to locate it otherwise when going through the servers...Oslo said it was stupid but let it go..."

That said, he set off again, creeping through the corridors.

"Where are you guys?" it was vector on the radio.

"Were in, just searching for a computer terminal now" Mahad told him.

Up ahead, Sirus seen a room labelled "storage warehouse" from his knowledge, these often had utility terminals, those'd be good enough to hack the system.

They huddled round the console, but soon as Mahad booted it up, and Sirus was preparing to establish a connection, there was the rhythm of footsteps approaching, LOTS of them, heavy metal footsteps.

"Brigs!" Lena squeaked "there's at least 30 of them!"

"Damnit, the thing must've been rigged to go off..." Sirus swore "di-wan must've known wed come here eventually..."

"Tell us something we DON T know!" Mahad squeaked.

Sirus paused momentarily "technically I'm classed as heavy machinery?" he offered, getting a brief smirk/snigger from the rest.

"How do we fight 'em off...there's too many..." wayan cursed "no way we have enough ammo for them all..."

Sirus thought about it, and then grabbed his radio.

"Vector?"

"Is everything alright?"

"Not quite, I need you to do me a favour...you said you learnt the codes for my defence program right...well..."

The brigs were getting close, despite the group's efforts, as if there were more coming...

"Shit, w ere in deep fecal matter folks!" Chris panicked, and then was nearly bowled off his feet as someone ducked past him. A second later, the front row of brigs suddenly ceased moving and collapsed in heaps.

Their casings were shredded by what looked like dozens of serrated knives...

The assembled group gawped. Sirus was stood right in front of the oncoming brigs. The wings were spread out to full length, bits of wring from his targets tangled in them.

The rest of the brigs raised their weapons, but they never got that far, as the group was treated to a display of the AI's combat abilities could really do.

It was like watching a metallic blur; the brigs were flung back, already ceasing function before they slammed into the walls.

He ducked fluidly beneath the pointed canon of one, grabbing it by its neck and using it as a bowling ball, the sheer speed he flung it at enough to break the rest into scrap metal.

One dropped down behind him, but he didn't even blink, just crouched slightly, re4aching back and grabbing the canon arm, and flinging it over his head and into another two that were preparing to fire.

Then Lena seen one that looked a little abnormal, she could sense saijin energy coming from it.

"WATCH OUT, THAT ONES A SAIJIN BRIG!" she screamed. Sirus briefly turned in her direction, and then gave a small nod before slicing another bring in two with one fell swoop of the wing. The saijin brig crouched down, its eyes lens gleaming with raw power.

It ran at the AI, aiming to punch him out. But Sirus grabbed the hand, stopping it an inch from his face, and then he flung it away from him and into the pile of its dead brothers.

It pounced right back up, seeming to twitch with rage.

Wayan gulped nervously "why do I get the feeling the fecal matters REALLY going to hit the rotating object on the ceiling."

"The what?" Mahad asked.

Chris laughed slightly "he means the shits going to hit the fan kiddo....we've got an AI with a built in fighting program...and a brig that thinks it's a saijin...they're easily as strong as each other.."

"And just as ruthless." the4 radio interrupted.

"How d'ya mean vector?" Mahad asked.

"The combat modes are automatic; the system diverts all attention and power to the part of the program that controls reaction times and speed. It won't come to a close until the enemy has been utterly obliterated."

"But how does he know who he's attacking?!"Chris asked, "what if he-?"

"He won't attack any of you...the targets are normally programmed by the master, but in this case, Sirus programmed it himself...when he set Cortes as the systems new master controller, he also added puerto angels database to his library. Therefore those that are a threat to us are automatically on his list."

The old man chuckled "so don't worry, he'd never harm any of you..."

"But what about him?" Lena asked "I bet it isn't easy to use that kind of strength, doesn't it tire him out?"

"That's true..." vector sighed "but he can't shut the program off, Oslo had it set so he'd be under his control, that if he commanded him to attack, he'd have no choice but to attack until either the targets are eliminated..Or he runs out of power completely..."

"But...that's brutal!" Lena cried, shaking her head "didn't Oslo care at all if he got hurt?"

"Doubt it," wayan interjected "he just wanted a bodyguard he could order about without hearing a string of moral objections..."

Back to the fight, the brig was taking swing after swing at the robot, but using the wings as a shield they just deflected harmlessly off. A few hits did make impact but he barely reacted; only pausing to slice at its side again with the razor sharp metal wings. The brig jerked back, but the edges still carved a path down its side, sparks spitting from the injury. To Mahad it looked like a scene from an old action movie.

The Saijin brig took swing after swing at the AI, but with a reflex ability he'd never seen before, every hit missed by a hairs breadth. The counter attack wound be launched in the split second available as the brig overshot its mark...more sparks as more tears appeared in the things side, causing it to emit a high pitched screech, almost one of anger...

But Sirus showed no expression at all, save a flicker of determination behind the baby blue eyes. Mahad could see just how expertly he'd been trained, none of his movements were wasted, every single disadvantage the brig had was being slowly exploited...

The brigs punch missed its mark and its hand got embedded in the wall. A flicker of response showed in the angel's eyes. A blur of movement, a wing hooking under the brigs body, then, bracing his feet, he flung the wing back with enough force to tear the brig free, leaving the arm embedded in the wall, spitting sparks.

It scraped along the concrete floor, coming to a rest with its inferior brothers. For a moment it seemed dead, then it jerked spastically, and staggered to its feet. Its remaining hand was summoning a saijin ball. The amount of power was huge, clearly it had gone into overload after that onslaught...it fired the blast, but it swerved at the last second, slamming into a wall.

Lena was a few feet ahead of the others. No matter what wayan said, she couldn't let Sirus get hurt, she knew as well as everyone else that just because he'd been programmed to die for his master, didn't mean he had to.

So she'd deflected the blast, to stop it hitting him...

The saijin brig, aware now another of power was in the room, pelted full force towards Lena. But he didn't get within an inch of her; Sirus took a running start, using a nearby generator as a vault, flipping over the brisg head and landing right in front of it and slammed his full weight against the attacker. While it still reeled, he ducked down and shunted one of the wings right into it, its thin body sailed upwards, and the Ai quickly followed suit. It was like one of the slow motion scenes from a movie.

The brig seemed to freeze in the air, with his attacker blotting the lights over. Then the angel firmly planted a foot on its chest, and the wings shot back, and he kicked the saijin brig downwards with such force the brig had just enough time to re4cord its attacks power level and output before it smashed into the concrete floor, parts scattering everywhere on impact.

--Targets eliminated mode offline...--his internal CPU reminded him. He touched down, the wings folding in. He stood there a few seconds, double over slightly, getting his breath back. Looking at the carnage around him itd worked.

Mahad stared with his mouth hanging open, that was the coolest thing he'd seen EVER.

"Are you OK?" a voice at Sirus' side startled him. Blinking the standby mode aside, he managed to offer Lena a smile "I'm fine, really..."

Wayan shook his head "I never saw a anything like that before..."

Sirus was silent, he felt...vaguely uneasy at letting them see that side of him. Sugar-coat as much as you like, he was still just a machine, an advanced brig, designed to kill those that opposed him.

"Did it work?" vector asked. Sirus snagged the radio and took a deep breath "I think so...the floors covered in scrap metal so I assume it went well..."

Vector was silent a moment "you took a great risk-"

"I know, I could've gotten somebody hurt..."

"No" Mahad butted in "we were worried YOUD get beat up, that saijin brig was a mean one."

Sirus looked baffled "but...it's my job to make sure innocent people aren't hurt, I'll survive, I'm designed to..."

"Doesn't mean you have to get clobbered," Lena said.

"You knew there was a risk you'd have to keep fighting them until you ran out of power," vector almost scolded "please don't feel you have to use it, cortes'll have our guts for garters if you're not in one piece when we get him back..."

Sirus blinked, a little astounded. He'd been programmed to have little to no concern over his own wellbeing, only his master and associates.

Wayan frowned at the angels clueless expression, did Sirus really not realise he'd get hurt? He'd seen the angel go to any lengths to protect Cortes and all of them, but he never seemed to react when it came to his own injury. Oslo's programming again no doubt, he didn't want someone'd who put off saving his sorry ass because they were hurt.

--Its not fair...to design someone so human, to cross that boundary but still burden him with a machines logic...--

Sirus looked at wayan "what's wrong?" he asked.

Wayan poked the angel on the arm "add this," he said calmly "to your database; "take care of yourself""

Sirus frowned "huh? How do you mean?"

"I mean, Oslo's programming is screwed up, you don't have to run yourself into the ground, if your hurt badly, stop trying to fight, were not defenceless, we can kick their asses if you need a break. I know Oslo's programmed you to9 take sole responsibility for defending who's in charge, but were all fighters here, you don't have to do everything all by yourself..."

Seeing the angel looking worried he cut him off "we could get hurt, I know. But that's the risk we take. We know we can rely on your help, but you got to learn to do the same for us, we've always looked after each other here"

Sirus was silent a moment of two as he digested this. Then he smiled "I get it," he said simply. But wayan could tell he was serious, he'd seen him smile like that when he'd taken important information about his precious Cortes on board. It meant he'd already learnt it.

Lena smiled. He was a self-teaching Ai right, so all they had to do was teach him!

"Let's get back to work...what about the console?"

Chris grinned "I already took care of that, I think I know where Aran is...this place has two medical bays, but only one science lab, I'm thinking they may well have him under sedation there..In any of those three locales."

Sirus nodded, scanning the map on screen and sighing softly "let's go then," he said softly. He wanted to find his Aran so badly.

When they reached an intersection Sirus stopped them. He suggested they break off, Mahad and Lena, and wayan and chirs. He'd go by himself.

"Hey hold on a sec-" wayan started, but this time Sirus stopped him.

"I know, I understood what you just said...but there's also kids in here, we need to find them too, plus it'll give di-wan a hard time stopping us all if were separate. I'm not trying to pull a fast one; it just makes logical sense..."

He looked a little apprehensive going off on his own, but he had to find Aran and those kids.

At last wayan nodded "just be careful" he said at last. The angel smiled and nodded "don't worry, I will take care as you phrased it..."

Then he was gone, following the map he'd downloaded off the console. He'd agreed to head for the lab; the other two would hit up the med bays for info.

--Please be OK Aran...-- he pleaded silently...

* * *

Di-wan was in the middle of demonstrating to the kids what'd happen if they didn't buckle down and do as they were told when the alarms went off.

A warning flashed up on the main screen in the room.

"It's a transmission form the specialist brig," the second sphere girl, di-wan remembered her name as Alice remarked.

"HIs last moments?" di-wan said aloud, pressing the button to run the file from the brigs memory.

Her mouth hung open as she seen that damned AI using his attack mode AGAINST sphere tech.

"That bastard!" she raged "how did he override Oslo's controls, he supposed to stand down in the presence of the brigs, not slaughter them..."

"Perhaps those pirates reprogrammed him?" Alice offered.

"No way in hell they'd ever be able to fathom his programming, I seen some of it once and its more complex than anything in existence..."

"But how did he find us?" Alice asked "this quadrants very desolate, none venture out here..."

"He's obsessed with that idiot we have in the lab, he must've tracked him down....seems he likens that rat as his new master..."

"Pathetic," Alice snapped, but inside, she couldn't help wonder at why this guy had broken the shackles and run away. Could it really be because of one lone human? What was so special about one low life pirate?

Di-wan punched the console and glared at the frozen image on the screen. "I'm going to take care of him personally," she snarled.

"What do you want me to do?" Alice frowned.

"Stay here, keep an eye on these brats!" di-wan stormed out as she spoke.

The kids whispered to each other, looking at the image of the blonde haired man on the screen.

They could sense he was another good adult, and silently prayed di-wan wouldn't catch him...

* * *

Mahad and Lena ran into trouble right off the bat, but a few swings with a boomerang took care of that. The two kids snuck as quietly as they could down the corridors, peering round each corner, and using the boomerang and Lena's powers to dismantle the brigs before they were spotted.

"Are we there yet-?" Mahad asked.

Lena looked up at a sign on the wall, "I think so, if I read the map right, it should be just round the next corner..."

Luckily she was right, there lay med bay #1 just ahead of them.

Nodding at each other they kicked off from the ground, running in and readying their weapons respectively.

The two doctors in there stared at them in astonishment, and one was going to object until Mahad tapped a laser pistol at his waist. He d snagged it just in case Lena ran out of energy or he lost his boomerang.

The one in charge glared at Mahad "who are you?! What do you want?"

"Where's Cortes?" Mahad ordered, the doctor shook his head.

"Who? I don't know who that is?!"

"He's a pirate, a SAIJIN, di-wan kidnapped him!" Lena added.

"I don't know anything about that-" as Mahad stepped closer "I'm serious! I mean, I know di-wan was bringing a prisoner here, but I don't know anything about that!"

"If you're lying-" Mahad began, but Lena cut him off with a shake of her head.

"They don't know Mahad, di-wan probably only told them the basics..."

Mahad glowered at them a moment longer, then relented and lowered the gun. "Alright, but maybe you can still help, where would di-wan keep a prisoner?"

"Well, the cells of course...but if he's a saijin she might have brought him to the lab..."

"The lab..." Lena murmured, that was where Sirus was headed.

"Who the hell are you kids?!" the second one blustered.

"Were the rescue squad...and before you try anything funny, my sister here kicked Oslo's ass, so yours wil be easy street!"

The two stared at Lena who offered a cheeky grin, no wonder they looked worried.

"So stay put and don't pull any alarms, there's a good pair!" Mahad instructed as he and Lena turned and ran out of the med bay.

* * *

Wayan and Chris had slightly better luck; the lone doctor they captured in the second medical bay told them di-wan had come to him asking for a specific drug.

"What drug?" wayan asked him bluntly.

"I-it was a hypnotic sedative....she said she wanted to keep a prisoner VERY heavily dosed, said he was too dangerous to keep awake and she wasn't taking any chances..."

"Damnit....I'm going to kick her ass if she's hurt Aran..." Christophe snarled, shaking his head "she knows he'd kick her sorry ass awake, so she's drugging him to hell and back..."

Wayan turned his fury back to the doc "where did she take him? ANSWER ME"

The doc looked ready to pee his pants by this point, he was a timid type of guy, used to working alone in a medical bay, with only the odd patient to interrupt his solitude. There two were quite frankly just as scary as di-wan herself.

"I think...I think it was the science lab, there's gear there to subdue a saijin...or run tests on them..."

"That's where Sirus is headed isn't it?" wayan asked Christophe quietly.

The doctor looked up, looking startled "Sirus? You mean he's still alive?"

"Alive and kicking someone's ass by now no doubt," Chris smirked "whatsa matter, ya scared of him too..."

The doc looked frankly at him "I've seen him fight, we had a spy in here before, tried to attack Oslo while he was visiting, that robot guy subdued him in about 5 seconds, didn't even blink..." he shivered.

"Yeah? Well he's not as bad you think, want to guess whose side he's on now?" Chris grinned.

The doc looked worried "di-wan said he was defective, that shed disposed of him..."

"Guess she's a liar AND a kidnapper...he's with us now, and you're precious di-wan kidnapped the ONE person he cares about...BIG mistake..." Chris leaned over and jabbed the doc in his skinny ribs "he's our friend, and I suggest you play nice if you run into him~ He's not very fond of the sphere anymore..."

The doc looked pretty damn worried now. These guys had Oslo's scary bodyguard with them. Oh hell.

* * *

Cortes head ached. Where was he? Oh, right....he'd been caught AGAIN. HIs head throbbed again and he closed his eyes, steadying his breathing before opening his eyes.

There was a guy staring down at him.

"Whuh? You..?" Cortes asked dozily.

The guy moved away, and empty syringe in his hand "I'm the chief of medical staff, the base is under attack. I can take a wild guess and say it's the rebels; no doubt they came for you...

Cortes stared funnily at him, and then it sank in. They come to get him. The dreams came rushing back and he bottled up, feeling sick and dizzy for a second.

"Take it easy..." the guy said quietly."Youre still a little dopey...you war under heavy sedation..."

"Then how come I'm out of it now? What's di-wan demanding now...?" Cortes snarled, feeling about to be sick at the thought of seeing the woman again.

"No..." the doctor sighed "I...I woke you up...this is the perfect time...you can escape amidst the chaos..."

They both looked up as a base-wide announcement went off; "All staff be warned MODEL 0 is on the loose in this base. He is considered a traitor to the sphere and needs to be shut down. If you see him, use deadly force"

The doc blinked "Model 0? Wait, Oslo's old bodyguard?!"

Cortes felt a faint flicker of hope "Sirus..?" he whispered softly.

"Yes, that's it, that's what he called him..." he looked at Cortes "wait, you know him? Then, he went to you guys after he deserted?"

Cortes smirked faintly "He helped me escape the day the monolith was raided, he'd been plotting to ditch the spheres sorry asses for some time..."

"Good grief...guess it shouldn't be a surprise, Oslo trusted him all too easily...figures an AI HE designed wouldn't break its leash.."

"Well Oslo's an idiot, so go figure..." Cortes grumbled.

The doc laughed shortly "yes, so it would seem..." he sighed, and then pointed at the door "go, go now"

Cortes looked at him, to see if he was serious.

"Trust me, I'm not jerking you around...you don't deserve to be held captive...di-wans lost it, trying to rebuild that dead empire..."

He shepherded Cortes out of the room, giving him a plasma gun eh normally hid in case of emergency "take this, and run for it!" he smiled lightly "good luck..."

Cortes stared for a second, then nodded and ran away into the dimly lit halls.

* * *

The rephrasing of "the shits hit the fan" was my online brothers idea XD...

Random Fact: My feet HURT. 8hr shifts on my feet = owchie.


	17. All for Aran

Meanwhile Lucretia and her little gang had made their way to a scavenge post, ironically not too far from the base that as under attack. They elbowed their way through the piles of debris, lucking out when they found an intact bunch of rooms. Busted the doors open unveiled a complex load of machinery.

"Any of this stuff salvageable for the ship or the flyers?" Lucretia asked. Her tech gurus began a quick check over, and after several seconds one shook his head,

"Not this stuff ma'am, this is WAYY outta our league.."

"What's it for then?!" she griped crossly, wandering over to stand beside him.

"Lemme see, this looks like the main computer...lemme just tinker with it..."

Several seconds later and the main screen crackles and fizzled into life.

For a second all they seen was a white screen, then grey lettering stencilled itself across the screen:

**Model 0 Maintenance Terminal - Please enter access code**

"Whoa.." the guy from before, Matt, drifted over and tapped at a few keys "lemme see if i can get round it..." Several minutes hacking later:

"Were in!" he crowed "my guess is this terminal was disconnected or discontinued, otherwise there'd have been more defences left up.."

"What's this bit?" Lucretia pointed at a tab marked "BIOS", so matt clicked on it.

Their jaws dropped as reams of information scrolled over the screen; there was an ident imagine, and some statistics. Weight, height, condition link (inactive). But the image was what drew their attention, it was the blonde guy from the visit, Sirus.

"Holy shee-it, its him!" Lucretia stared "this must've been a repair station for him or something'"

Matt shook his head "man, this is deep stuff...I've never seen anything as complex as this guy before.."

He continued reading through the information logs. From what he could gather the angel had displayed no problems up until subject 0 had been brought in. Then suddenly the reports detailed fluctuations in the emotional response drive. Then the last log contained the sentence:

**UNIT TERMINATED.**

"Like hell he is.." Lucretia laughed "they musta been remotely monitoring him from here or something..."

They read through the information end to end. They learnt he'd taken several years to designed and build, and had been Oslo's idea, he'd wanted a body guard with more brains then a brig, but also someone he could send into rebel camps as a decoy to lure them out. That part had never been implemented. Maybe it had, before the angel had defected..

Exiting that they dredged through the rest of the info, which details a few bits of into about the people that'd worked on the program code.

The other kid was poking and prodding at what seemed like an ordinary wall. But he'd knocked on it and discovered it was hollow to some extent. SO now he was working on getting it open. And while the others were gawping at the scoop on the blonde robot guy, he succeeded in getting it open.

"Guys, take a look..." he stepped back to let them see and they ALL stared.

There, nestled in the wall was a choice piece of weaponry. A rifle gun, with laser scoping and zoom. It was a metallic white colour with grey markings.

"What IS that?!" Lucretia squeaked, eyes on stalks.

Matt lifted it down, turned it over in his hands, noticing two words were inscribed in minute lettering on the side "Heaven's Gate". "pretty fancy-ass gun...probably laser or plasma...don't know...but.." he frowned "there's no sign of the ammo loading area. Nothing.." he pressed a small hatch on the side and retrieved a length of retractable white cable, "holy crap guys, this belongs to him!"

"To who? You mean Blondie?" Lucretia asked "he never mentioned being advanced weapons trained..from what we saw he just carries the same weaponry as the rebels..plus those wing thingies.."

"It's his..look," Matt held up the cable "connector, like for a type of computer. It's got to be his..."

"Whoa..that's sweet...wonder why he didn't mention his old gear was stashed here?"

"Probably didn't know.." Matt shrugged "this was probably a research station for him, they must've been designed all the accessories you'd need as a bodyguard..but he did a bunk before they could give 'em to him, so they shut down and locked up...prolly didn't figure anyone'd ever find this place..it aint been used or nothing, looks pretty powerful."

"But how does it work?" Lucretia asked with a shrug "no ammo port you said.."

"Probably off his own internal battery...that way the blast strength can be adjusted.." Matt grinned "let's take it with us, if we ever run into the guy again we can hand it over..."

Lucretia shrugged "eh, why not..."

Weapons dump aside; they found some parts they COULD use, as well and some varyingly useful junk. Some old weapons they could fix onto the ship, a few power cells scattered about that were of good use..They shut down the computer and left it off, it was close to frying point anyhow, lucky for them it'd worked at all..

It was as they were leaving that they picked up the Sphere distress call, stating the base was under attack, mentioned model 0 and the rebels.

"Sounds like Blondie found where they were keeping his friend," Lucretia remarked as they ran back to the ship.

"Why don't we join them?" Matt suggested. Lucretia frowned "why?"

"Hey, base under attack, easy pickings..it'll have even more stuff..."

Lucretia rolled her eyes "you just want to give Blondie that weapon and see what he'll do with it, don't you?"

Busted. Matt tried to look innocent, but failed by cracking up laughing.

Lucretia shook her head and thought about it, it did sound like a cool idea, go raid even MORE Sphere junk..Possibly some water, kick a few asses along the way..

"Allright," she confirmed "let's vamoose!"

The ships pilot gave a salute and turned the ship toward the chaos. Matt grinned. He wondered what "Heaven's Gate" was...

* * *

The doctor was just starting to fall asleep when the doors were busted open and he heard the click of a plasma rifle being loaded. He stood up sleepily, raising his hands.

"I don't have anything of any use to you-holy crap, it's YOU."

For the figure aiming the gun at him was undoubtedly Model 0, Sirus.

He was dressed differently, wearing a green and white jacket and trousers, and a black polo neck. The uniform bore an odd resemblance to the prisoners..

He even seemed different. Last time the doc'd seen him he acted emotionless and servile. Answering only to Oslo's commands. Now here he was, wielding a gun and giving the doc a VERY mad glare.

"On the contrary, you DO have something I want.." the angel growled, a tone the doc'd never heard him use "where's Aran?"

"Who? wait..you mean the pirate saijin?" the doc asked.

"Yes I mean him!" Sirus snapped, raising the rifle again "where is he?! What's Di-wan done with him?!" he sounded pissed as hell.

The doc backed up, hands raised to indicate he wasn't going to do anything, "easy buddy...I can help there..." he indicated the door Sirus had just barged in by "I woke him up from the drug induced coma Di-wan had him put in, I let him go...figured he'd be able to slip out and back to you guys, the rebels I mean, before Di-wan came looking.."

Sirus stilled looked mad, but now another expression clouded his blue eyes. Worry. The doc realised then just how advanced the guy was, he reacted so humanely, so angrily, so sadly, in just the last few seconds alone.

"Aran.." the robot whispered, then snapped at the doc "you'd better hope I find him, he could get killed out there!"

"I gave him my gun, I figured if Di-wan came down here to check he wasn't loose he'd be in even more trouble..so I let him go..."

Sirus lowered the weapon did an abrupt about face, striding towards the doors again.

The doc let out a shaky sigh of relief. He hadn't expected they guy to have so unexpectedly grown a spine and a personality.

Sirus holstered the gun, running along the halls, lashing out at a few brigs and cameras he came across. Then up ahead he heard footsteps, human footsteps, closely followed by brigs.

He pressed his back against the wall, readying the gun, then he peered round the corner.

* * *

Cortes was beginning to feel dizzy and tired. He'd shot a few brigs along the way..

Then he'd turned another corner and seen a wave of 5 stomping his way. He'd panicked, stumbling blindly round another corridor, edging nervously towards the intersection ahead, all the while aware of the encroaching brigs.

--ohshit..I'm screwed...-- he panicked. Glancing back over his shoulder showed they'd seen him and were advancing..He didn't have a hope in hell of taking them all out..

Then an arm reached out and snagged hold of him, yanking him round the corner and into someone's arms. A volley of shots rang out, and the brigs all ceased movement.

For a moment the grip held him tight, then it released him and he looked up...straight into a pair of familiar blue eyes.

It literally was his guardian angel. Complete with metal wings and a gun.

"Aran.." the angel sounded so relieved, reaching out and gently stroking his hair "oh thank god.."

Then Cortes found himself being VERY tightly hugged by the angel. And he held onto him tightly himself, his lovers familiar voice, the scent of that pale blonde hair, the warmth of his body..

After this brief but adorable hug, the two let go, and managed to secure a brief smooch before Sirus snagged his hand and towed him off in the direction he came.

"The others?" Cortes managed, barely able to speak from the tidal wave of relief crashing down on finally being reunited with his angel.

Sirus smiled "there all here, we're going to get you outta here my precious Aran...that bitch won't get her hands on you EVER again....I won't let anyone hurt you ever again. Never..."

Cortes smiled, squeezing his hand. He was still a little hazy from the drugs, but he was happy...

Then he stopped. "The kids?" he asked.

Sirus halted "kids? Oh, right...sorry..." he went red, "all I had on priority was you Aran.."

Cortes flushed slightly but smiled "well now we got to go rescue THEM. There's not only Di-wan there's some other girl to deal with...probably about Dahlia's age I think..."

Sirus stopped to think "right...we'd better get everyone together then..."

He picked up the radio, dialling Chris & Wayan first..

* * *

Chris was still glowering the doc into submission, trying to get more info from him when the radio crackled.

"Wayan here, what's up?"

"Wayan?" it was Sirus voice "it's me, I've got Aran.."

Wayan felt a surge of relief, and judging from Chris' expression he felt the same.

"Is he OK?" Chris asked.

"'m fine you dimbulb..." Cortes shaky tones answered "doc woke me up...lemme go..." he sounded tired "but this drugs still in my system..I can barely focus...powers useless at the moment, whatever they gave me's dampening them..so I can't be of much help.."

"Forget about that for now captain," Wayan told him "once we get you outta here we can sort it out..."

"Were going for the kids," Sirus added smoothly "Aran said they're likely to be with the second saijin, a younger version of Di-wan it seems"

This produced shudders all round, now THAT was a creepy thought..

Sirus ran through their current locations and realised he and Aran WERE the closest to the likely holding area for the kids. Cortes had mentioned Di-wan wanting to train them, so the main study room seemed likely...

* * *

With Aran's hand clutched tightly in his he ushered them both down a series of hallways and corridors.

Then suddenly the alarms went off, the lights going red.

"Uh oh..." Cortes winced "think she's realised I'm missing..."

Sirus grinned, then ran to the nearest console and prised open the panel. Then he pulled something from his pocket and slotted it in. A chip. The alarm suddenly cut off, the words "security overridden" flashed on the screen. In the main area where the security room was kept, the people in charge of maintaining it were given a shock as the screens flickered then overloaded, freezing like ice on the screen.

Back at the lovebirds Cortes blinked at Sirus, "what was that?!" he asked.

Sirus chuckled "just one of a few tricks I prepared to deal with Di-wan...I'm going to make sure she pays for what she's done...and take this dump down while I'm here!"

Cortes blinked, he'd never seen Sirus so determined "you want to kick their asses that bad huh?" he said at last.

Sirus paused guiltily "well, I want them to pay for what they put you through in the first place. I'm not concerned about me, you're all that matters. I want you to feel safe, not to have to feel afraid of this happening. I swore I wouldn't let it happen, that id keep those creeps away from you...but i screwed up, they took you a second time.." he shook head, looking as mad at himself as the crew had seen him "I won't fail a second time-"

Smooch. He was cut by a sudden abrupt kiss from the saijin. Cortes let him go but stayed close enough for their noses to touch, an Eskimo kiss. "That's not your fault, get me? There's always a risk in this job.."

"That's what wayan said.." Sirus murmrered.

Another nuzzle on the nose "i know, Wayans got a shed load of common sense if you'd listen more often...instead of beating yourself up. Lena told me what you were up to, searching everywhere, running yourself into the ground.." he looked upset "what good is it if you destroy yourself because of me!" his voice rose a few notches, not quite angry, more worried. Perhaps a mix of both... he bit his lip to stop himself from getting too upset...

"Aran..."

He looked back up as the voice that had kept him sane in his nightmares spoke again. The angel was smiling, that same smile that never failed to make the shittiest day seem a little better...a special smile only for him...

"I'm sorry I made you worry..." the AI said softly, stroking Cortes cheek gently, tucking loose strands of hair back behind his ears "but losing you is like losing everything...nofunction...you," he poked Cortes on the nose "ARE the core of the programming now.."

Cortes blinked "you mean-? You changed it-"

A nod "yes. That afternoon on the nazaire...while you were snoozing...I changed the lead controllers name. I couldn't stand to still have that balding git registered on my system, not when I had the person I WANTED to order me about right next to me~" he smiled and returned the kiss Cortes had startled him with earlier.

Once he let go, Cortes laughed at the phrasing of it "oh really?" he laughed, but he was flushing slightly. He couldn't deny he was happy the angel had gone that far, just for him. Who wouldn't feel honoured if someone loved them that much? This added a new dimension to the angel's already adoring devotion. He was serious about how he felt. Not that Cortes had ever doubted him, but he'd always worried deep in his subconscious that he'd someday lose the angel, but that act of program tweaking had secured the death of those fears, making him feel so damn happy...

"C'mon.." Sirus smiled at the emotions appearing on Aran's face "let's go, we got kiddies to save!"

Cortes gripped his hand and grinned, more like his old self "roger that!" he shot back.

* * *

Di-wan was startled when a security shutter suddenly slammed down in front of her, and the alarms ceased. That didn't make sense.

"What's going on?!" she snapped, calling the central security room. But they were too busy running about like headless chickens to answer her.

She stared as the shutter suddenly shot back up again, then back down. This was madness, what the hell had happened.

--Oh come on...- a voice in her head said -computers going ditzy, walking PDA on base...go figure genius...-

She snarled, her hands clenching. How was Sirus DOING all of this?? Those pirates couldn't have possibly have known how to reconfigure him, so the only options were; either the creator was with the rebels, or the AI had done the deed himself. Tinkered with his internal workings.

Given his attachment to that rat Cortes, she opted for the second option as most likely.

--Why the hell did you design that little brat of a computer Oslo?-- she wondered as she ducked beneath the broken shutter next time it shot upwards. --Didn't you think he'd ditch you eventually...or did he become that good at concealing his emotions that even YOU second guessed him?--

It was a mystery how much the angel had changed since Cortes had shown up. But now she thought about it, that cocky little computer could've been plotting to do a runner long before that. He'd just gone and fallen for one particular stray..

--Where'd he develop the ability to do THAT?!-- She fumed --Oslo would've never requested THAT in his original designs...either the creator went behind Oslo's back..or...he learnt it from the rebels we caught. Come to think of it...he DID suddenly start opting to do the interrogations by himself with some of the rebels. Sure he always got the required info Oslo asked for...but supposing he asked for other details from them...--

Thinking about it now, Sirus had probably broken free of Oslo's protocols years ago..Yet none of them had known. It seemed Oslo had created the biggest downfall the Sphere could have in designing an AI. It had grown from servant to deserter, showing more tactics, emotions and outright guts in defying them the way he did.

* * *

The Wind Devils arrived just as the security went down the crapper. Thus breaking in had never been so easy..They, like the rebels, were out to cause havoc, and steal stuff where they could..

So they rampaged through the halls, blowing up a variety of brigs...

* * *

Cortes was baffled by the bonkers doors as much as Di-wan had been. But Sirus happily held each one up far enough for him to duck under, then followed, dropping it. Between them both, any approaching brigs were taken care of, although Cortes' aim was a little shaky to say the least..

They arrived outside the teaching room door. Cortes motioned for Sirus to hold on a moment, then closed his eyes and after some effort, managed to summon a small energy ball. It would be enough to knock anyone inside that door on their ass, although if it was Di-wan he was screwed..

* * *

Di-wan didn't know it, but she was going the wrong way to catching the angel and Cortes. She'd been pissed as hell to find out the doctor had lost the captive, and had screamed herself hoarse at him before setting the alarms off and going looking for the pirate and that idiot filofax...

* * *

Alice was sulking a little. She wanted to fight the intruders, but she'd been stuck babysitting these brats instead. The older one, Lukas apparently, was smirking at how cheesed off she was getting. The little ones were mostly staying quiet, shooting each other glances every now and again.

Then the door opened, and she turned, ready to shout at Di-wan, but instead she got a blast to the gut, which knocked her flat on her ass. Sitting herself up hastily she gaped at the intruders.

The first one, the one who'd shot her was the prisoner, that troublesome adult from the ship. He motioned behind him and someone else strode in to stand beside him, gun aimed in her direction.

The robot. The guy from the screen. He smirked as she glared at him.

"YOU!" she shouted, getting to her feet "you're that goddamn traitor!!"

But Sirus just rolled his eyes and gave a short laugh "that's getting old real fast. Let's just say I don't give a crap anymore and leave at that?"

He looked at the adult, who gave him a nod. Then he pulled something from his pocket and plugged it into the main control panel. A load of gibberish flashed over the screen, then red symbols fileld the background, and a montage of files being erased flashed up on screen. The bases security codes, the info they'd gathered, everything. Even the holding cell doors...whatever he'd done was destroying all their hard work..

"NO!" she screeched, flinging her skinny frame at the mechanical human. But he caught her wrists easily, holding her away from him. His expression was sympathetic but cross, yet at the same time unyielding.

"There's no use in that.." he spoke softly, the inflections in his voice so realistic..His expression so human...shed expected a robot, even a human one, to be cold, but his grip was warm as a humans. It really was impossible to tell he wasn't human unless you seen the wings. Oslo had designed and had him built, and he'd done a runner, ditching his master for this scrawny human..

The AI's expression didn't change, and up close she noticed he was actually pretty cute. He didn't strike her as malicious, as she'd expected a Sphere agent-turned rebel to be. Truthfully, she didn't know WHAT to make of him. Di-wan had painted him as this heartless bastard of a robot, whose programming had gone defective, but the guy standing before her, watching her with that same level expression, didn't fit that description at all. She began to wonder if Di-wan maybe WAS a little funny in the head after Oslo's disappearance..

Cortes meanwhile, leaving Sirus to deal with Alice, drifted over to Lukas and the little kids. They crowded around him, all talking at once. Cortes quietened them down, checking theyw ere all OK.

Still in restraints by the angel, Alice started in on Cortes.

"What do you hope to achieve?!"

Cortes didn't hesitate to answer; "Simple, freedom for Saijins, and an end to this barbaric organization!" Cortes snarled "I was kidnapped, drugged and had my genetic material changed against my will, I am NOT going to let anyone else ever suffer that way!"

"You're just a little ingrate!" she snapped back.

Cortes got up from comforting the kids, strode over, and grabbed her hand "let me show you what the Sphere REALLY is." he said darkly, transferring the memories.

The ones of his capture, of the genetic treatment, the fear, pain and misery he'd endured during the Ops, Oslo keeping him alive solely to torture him with the procedure...having to cope with his whole life going upside down..he didn't show the truly terrifying memories, those he hid away..In amongst the fear was a single ray of hope, some memories of his talks with Sirus, of the robots first efforts to reach out to him, the day they'd escaped...

"OH god..." Alice felt like someone had plonked a lump of ice in her stomach, the memories were that chilling.

"That's not all, here's someone else he captured.." here he showed memories of helping Mahad and Lena find their mother, of the triumphant day Mila had returned...

Alice let her whole body go slack, and indicated she wouldn't run. Trusting her for some odd reason, Sirus released his hold on her. She wiped her sleeve over her eyes..

"That's awful...you...and those kids. Why didn't I think?!"

"You were following what you believed was right..." Sirus spoke at last "believe me, I used to be the same way, believed the Sphere, and Oslo, were right, what harm were we doing?" he sighed "then I started learning what was really happening.."

She looked up at the Ai "So you ran away, left because you couldn't stand it anymore..Because of what Oslo did to him.." she meant Cortes.

Sirus nodded "I met a great many rebels and Saijins before, but Aran was the best of all of them. It was his determination to return to his own crew that finally spurred me to leave.."

Cortes flushed faintly, but smiled. --just glad I could help..-- he thought..

Alice sighed, taking a few deep breaths "well, if an artificial intelligence can see it, I must be the blindest person on earth.."

"Where there's artificial intelligence, there's natural stupidity." Cortes spoke at last, sending the kids into giggle fits, and earning a muffled laugh from Alice.

"Smart ass," she retorted.

"Sorry," Cortes apologised "just kidding. It was something cheng started saying after this one joined us..."

"Gee, thanks." Sirus added, shaking his head. But he was so relieved to see Aran smiling and laughing again. God knew he'd been so worried about hm. The time apart made him feel so utterly lost, like he'd lost a large part of himself. When he leaned round the corner and seen Aran legging it from the brigs, he'd felt a surge of relief so strong he was surprised he hadn't fried his circuits..

Alice blinked, noticing the gentle smile on the AI's expression as he watched the saijin looking after the kids..

--So that's how it is...why he tracked him..but how?--

"Wait, weren't you supposed to be designed to follow and protect Oslo...how did you find him?"

Sirus grinned "easy, Oslo's not my master anymore!" he looked very pleased with himself "I chose one myself...someone I actually believed in.."

Alice stared "you'd go that far for a pirate?" she shut up, "sorry, I just don't get it, I mean, its obvious WHY you came after him, Di-wan mentioned it.." Sirus blushed faintly, but the pleased grin stayed where it was, "but she said it was impossible for you to have changed your code."

"Nothing's impossible. It was dangerous yes, but worth it. I'm free of him, of the Sphere for good.."

"Let's go!" Cortes ordered "we got to clear out before Di-wan finds us.."

Sirus looked at Alice "you coming..what's your name sorry?"

"Its Alice.." She nodded, picking up a small plasma gun "damn straight I'm coming."

Cortes grinned at having another Sphere deserter with them. As a group they all bundled out into the corridors. Cortes' powers were still on the fritz, so he had to rely on Sirus and Alice, even his aim with a gun was thrown off by the drugs still in his system..

* * *

It seemed a little too easy, and they soon realised why. They emerged into a massive training hall, which Sirus said was a shortcut down to where the ship was parked.

They were halfway across when Sirus heard something flying towards him with a high pitched whine. Automatically he stretched his wings out to full length, the saijin energy ball smattering harmlessly off it.

"This is as far as you go you little traitors!"Di-wan, standing on a balcony that ran all round the edges and overhead across the width of the room, glared down at then group. She spotted Alice and stared "so you've ditched me too! You listened to those idiots, the fucked-up Ai and the rat human!!"

Sirus glowered up at her "Face it diwan!" he yelled, his fury evident "you've lost any and all belief in you, even Alice can see it!"

"I can't believe YOU! Oslo designed you, let you have the run of the ship and access to destroy as many of these crooks...and you turn tail and run to their side!"

Sirus laughed "hey, want to guess how long it's been since I got the idea to leave?"

"What?!"

"Two. Goddamn. YEARS." Sirus smirked "I waited all that time to find a way outta there. Get away from your immoral experiment and Oslo's demented power lust.."

Di-wans mind reeled, two years? She recalled talking to Sirus in that time, he'd been as sarcastic and cold as the day he was booted up. He looked down on the pirates as little more than dogs, much like Oslo did..But now she found he'd been lying the whole time.

Now she looked right at him, she could see a strength and power that she'd never even thought him capable of. He was acting so much like a damn human, even running away to follow a different life. What the hell had Oslo created?

"No matter!" she laughed, snapping her fingers. A whole line of Saijin brigs marched in, standing either side of her.

"Oh shit.." Cortes whispered.

Sirus' hands clenched "Aran, I need you to do something.."

"What?"

"Activate my combat modes."

"How?"

Sirus smiled faintly "you're the master controller, its verbally activated." he gave his precious Aran the codes, adding "I'm relying on you.."

"But.." Cortes shook his head "even YOU can't hope to beat all of them; I won't stand by and see you get killed!"

"What's it gonna be traitors? Give up or get blasted to smithereens?!" Di-wan laughed like a mad-woman.

"GO TO HELL DI-WAN!" Cortes roared.

"Yeah, to hell with the Sphere!" Alice added.

Di-wan smirked, the raised her hand "GO!" she barked, the Saijin brigs tensing up for battle..

**Fweee, BOOM.**

Something ht the floor and detonated in front the group, shielding them from Di-wans brig army's aim.

"What the?!" Sirus squinted through the smoke, shifting vision modes to pick out a group of three standing on the side of the walkway. Lucretia, Matt and the other kid.

"Here, take this!" Matt ran forward and threw something at Sirus, who caught it effortlessly. Seeing it was a weapon with a chord attached, he automatically connected to the port hidden behind his ear.

It was a powerful thing alright. The weapon released an upgrade, enhanced visual mode. Through the smoke he could see the brigs easily.

Smiling he directed a small charge of energy to the battery of the gun, then took aim and fired off a shot..

* * *

Whee, this is for Metamorphstorm who once again has helped me feel better during a cruddy time...^_^


	18. Explosive Escape

Di-Wan stared into the smoke, waiting for Sirus to probably attack from out of it, but even at close range he'd still have trouble beating this many..

BLAM BLAM BLAM. Three of the brigs standing to the right suddenly jerked and collapsed to the metal gantry. Spinning to looking down at them she saw each one hand a perfect headshot right through it. The wound was smoking, meaning it was high energy whatever it was.

As she turned back, the smoke cleared, and she seen Sirus standing in a defence posture, wings spread out to shield the kids and Aran.

He was holding a fairly big and impressive looking rifle in his hands, the barrel trained on her. She spotted the cable vanishing into the pale blonde hair, and her jaw dropped. How had he-? then she seen Lucretia and co, and the girl gave her a rude gesture.

She heard a high pitched whine, and realised he was gearing it up for another shot.

"GO!" she screamed.

Sirus motioned the kids to scram, and gave Aran a pleading look.

Cortes sighed then let the attack mode go on the loose.

His eyebrows almost rose up off his face in surprise as he watched Sirus tear into the rest of the brigs.

He jumped on ones head, then spread the wings and kicked off it with such force the head ripped off the body. One jumped up and grabbed the wings mid flight, pulling him onto the floor. but he simply twisted mid-fall, planted his feet and wrenched the wing round, sending it flying overhead and into the wall..

Still crouched, Sirus aimed the gun on it, then suddenly flipped it backwards over his shoulder and fired a blind shot at the one sneaking up behind him. The blast tore neatly through its midsection, a full battery charge this time, the blast as the size of a medium seijin blast.

Up on the balcony Matt was grinning from ear to ear "that's freaking AWESOME!" he crowed !"go Blondie!"

For an instant he swore the angel paused, gave him a smirk, then flipped his attention back to the last brig.

Di-Wan stared in astonishment. Sure she knew Sirus was programmed to fight like a solider, but this was the first real demonstration shed ever seen.

She glowered at Cortes, who was standing some way ahead of the kids, who where crouching behind some upturned equipment, watching his lover do these aerial acrobatics with a look of amazement on his face.

She gathered a charge of power, and flung it at him..

Sirus looked up, caught this proximity alarm and ran at Cortes at maximum speed, throwing the rifle ahead of him, high into the air, the cord trailing at it spun...

Cortes suddenly felt himself being pulled into the angels arms, those strong metal wings wrapping around him like a shield. The blast hit, the brightness as it reflected off the metal almost blinding..

Still keeping a wing around Cortes Sirus put his hand up and caught the rifle cord, plugging it back in with one hand and catching the rifle itself a split second later.

Staring right at the brig, he kept an arm around Aran and switched to single hand fire. He fired one last shot as it stampeded towards him. The sheer force of the charge he'd amassed was such that it utterly disintegrated the brigs top half, leaving a smoking crater in the wall several feet behind it as well. the kickback from firing single handed hurt, but worth it. Aran was safe, held in his arm, staring in befuddlement at the mess..

Cortes jaw dropped, and he stared at up at the angel, who was staring fixatedly at the last target left. Di-Wan.

She backed up, staring fearfully at the AI. He was holding the human to his chest, and arm around his waist, one of the wings tilted to shield him. The gun pointed at her.

"Give it up!" Lucretia giggled at Di-Wan "you cant beat a pissed off Blondie!"

Di-Wan turned to run, only for a seijin blast to hit her in the gut and knock her out cold on the metal walkway.

"Sorry were late!" Mahad announced, as he and Lena ran up to examine the knocked out Di-Wan.

"You guys missed the party!" Matt called, "Blondie just kicked everyone's asses!"

Worried Sirus was still glaring at Di-Wan, Cortes shifted and managed a quick, brief kiss. The AI blinked, snapping out of the daze as his system informed him targets had been neutralized, and his master needed his attention..

Cortes smiled wearily up at him, "its over now," he smiled "please, stop fighting.."

Sirus smiled, folding the wings in and tucking arans hair behind his ears again, making the human smile.

"Of course, Aran.." he spoke softly "whatever you say~"

Cortes smiled, resting his head on Sirus' shoulder "lets go.." he whispered "im tired.."

Nodding, Sirus reluctantly had to let him go to carry on walking.

By now Lena, Mahad, and the group from the wind devils had clambered down the ladder to where they were.

"Cortes!" Lena beamed "you're OK?"

He nodded "I'm fine, a little dopey from the drugs though.."

"Sure its fair to blame the drugs?" Mahad asked. Cortes gave him the middle finger and Mahad laughed his ass off.

Sirus shook his head, biting back a laugh himself. But when Cortes caught his expression he inexplicably sputtered and started laughing.

"What's so funny mr artificial idiot?" Cortes asked, failing to keep a straight face.

"N-nothing aran..pfft.." Sirus couldn't seem to help himself..

Cortes shook his head, and poked the angel on the nose "what am I menna do with you huh?" he muttered, grinning from ear to ear.

Watching them, Alice again noticed the sheer range of emotions Sirus seemed to display. Right that second he was failing to stop himself laughing, which was making everyone else giggle.

-He looks so kind..- she thought, then caught herself and went slightly red. True he WAS cute, but he wasn't human...still, that hadn't stopped that Cortes guy.

Catching her staring, Lucretia elbowed her and giggled "not a chance dear, he's got a one track mind, and its fixed on that pirate right in front of him. You shoulda seen the lengths he went to get us to point him in this direction. He'd have given anything to find the guy again." she chuckled to herself "though a few choice locations was all it took~"

"Right!" Sirus' voice interrupted their speech "lets get a move on!"

"Wait.." Cortes paused "there's someone else here I want to help escape...the doctor from before.."

Sirus took this in and nodded "lets go look for him.." he started off but Cortes suddenly snagged his hand, nearly pulling him over.

"Aran?" he asked, looking concerned.

"This place..." Cortes addressed this to Alice "does it have a genetic facility on board.."

Alice thought about it, shed read the building maps out of boredom one evening, and some of the upper floors were marked as "top security Genome research". So she nodded, explaining it to him.

"What does it mean? genomes, genetics...wait.." she looked at Cortes, who was still clutching Sirus hand very tightly. He looked about to throw up.

"Aran.." Sirus looked worried "we should get you away from here ASAP.."

"NO," Aran Cortes said sharply, and looked up a the angel "I want to destroy this place."

Alice's jaw dropped "you serious?" she screeched "how're ya menna do that?"

Sirus frowned "I need to see the security console," eh said at last.

"But...you wrecked it didn't you?" Alice asked.

Sirus grinned "that one in the room we found you was just an illusion, I designed it to lock out the console, make it seem I'd destroyed it. I had to keep a backup in mind in case I couldn't get Aran away from Di-Wan easily. The one that screwed with the alarms is a more malicious one, its basically holding the data "hostage" until I get to it. I figured if Di-Wan wouldn't hand Aran and you kids over, I'd let it take the whole server down.."

Cortes raised an eyebrow, "like I said earlier.." he spoke up "you really DO want to kick their asses badly huh?"

Sirus nodded, but smiled gently. "Any attempts to reboot it wouldn't worked, the whole things useless unless it has the anti-virus code I prepared for it, so if we'd all left, they never would've been able to unlock it!"

Matt whistled "I thought I was good, but you're off the freaking planet!"

Sirus smiled faintly "when you ARE a computer, learning how to take one downs easy street!"

Cortes glowered "don't talk like that.." he muttered softly to Sirus "you're better then some dim bulb desk machine. Your a super computer sure, but you're still human to me!"

Sirus blinked, then went slightly red, then smiled, poking Aran's cheek "ok Aran, I wont mention it again.." he replied.

"Good" Cortes huffed, his petulant expression almost enough to make Sirus laugh again. The kids giggled at the way the two adults were being all secretive, Mahad Lena and the other teens all raised eyebrows and giggled.

Forcing the giggles to recede, Sirus motioned they all move their rears. Di-Wan? Well they simply tied her up and put her in one of the cells, taste of her own medicine! Along the way to the security room he called Chris and Wayan to meet them there..

* * *

The security staff were running about like headless chickens, the virus had also locked the door so they couldn't send the brigs out. Not that they would've worked, the last act of the virus was to corrupt the brigs still docked to the servers, make their programming useless. They were empty husks now. Only the ones that hadn't been attached for maintenance or on standby had escaped this fate, and by now they'd been shot to shit by the angel and rebels.

On pointing this out Matt nudged Lucretia adding "lets nick 'em, we can use 'em as guard bots!"

* * *

The headless chicken act stopped soon as the doors opened.

Several raced towards it, expecting to see Di-Wan, but when they seen the AWOL AI, brandishing a scary looking rifle, followed by the prisoner and a whole LOAD of kids, they stopped in their tracks.

"Sorry folks," Sirus spoke briskly "but im taking control as of now." he strode past them, standing at the main console. The staff there backed up in fright. Di-Wan had warned them about the AI, stating he'd gone mad and defected to the rebels. He didn't LOOK mad though...

Catching them eyeing him uneasily, Sirus offered them a gentle smile, but at the same time unfolded the metal wings, opening them partway so their metal blades caught the light. Those that'd been fidgeting, plotting a rebellion, instantly subsided. They'd no desire to be on the receiving end of those. they'd seen the footage of the fight from the security cameras..

Sirus linked himself to the main console, typing in a code sequence Cortes couldn't even keep up with as he walked to the angels side. He leaned against him, resting his head slightly on the AI's shoulder, watching the speed at which he worked.

"Here we go!" Sirus spoke at last, a diagram coming up on screen "there's a self destruct facility...but we have a slight problem. The procedure states here they normally send a bring with a charge pack attached to the top room of the central core of the building, right on the roof. There its detonated and the force of the blast sets off an audible trigger, sending the rest of the self destruct system online, from there it detonates within seconds. My guess is they'd get everyone out first, Then simply program the brig to do it for them.."

"So send a brig!" Cortes said simply. Sirus winced

"Ah.." he said a second later.

"They're all erased, right?" Matt added.

"Yes, I didn't think wed have to destroy the place completely..." he looked at Aran "but if id known it was another of those facilities id done otherwise.."

"I know.." Cortes squeezed his arm and smiled faintly "you cant be expected to think of everything...its my fault. I wanted to...blow it up. I know I cant reverse the therapy, so I wanan wipe out every single trace of this research.." he looked so depressed at the thought of a facility still existing it was heartbreaking for Sirus to see.

Then he thought of something. he looked back at the screen "there IS an alternative way to do it. Hold on a sec.." his fingers raced across the keypad, calculations flittering across the screen at an increased rate. Then they stopped, a final figure appearing.

"What's that?" Cortes asked.

"That's the force of the blast needed. I calculated the force of that type of charge pack, plus the proximity of it...there IS a way to do it.."

"How?" Cortes asked suddenly uneasy. Sirus winced again, guilt all over his face.

"It will require a maximum charge shot from THIS," he indicated the rifle propped against the console, "but to get that kind of force it'll take a huge amount of power, plus id have to be no less then ten feet away from it when its fired. Otherwise it wont trigger"

"What're you saying? You haveta stand right in the path of the resulting explosion to set it off?" Cortes voice rose "you cant be serious!"

"Aran.."

"Don't Aran me! I'm not risking you getting yourself blown up, I said earlier!" Cortes was angry, yet still wanting to blow the place up. "you cant.."

Sensing his fury abating, Sirus ruffled Cortes' hair "Aran, he whispered "if you set the command for my defence program off, the system will reroute enough power to use the speeds attained during the fight earlier. Soon as the weapon fires I can bolt. The system will se eit as the enemy target destroyed and I'll be free to go."

Cortes still looked torn between wanting to destroy another genome facility, thus putting a future event in any attempts to revive it, and keeping his lover out of danger.

"NO," he shook his head, hands clenched.

"You'll be worrying until its gone Aran, I know you," Sirus spoke softly "that's why I suggested it. This'll make you feel better, I know it will, and so do you. You deserve that at least. And I promise, I'll be fine. once I get back to the ship you can get mad as you like then..OK?"

Cortes was silent for several looong seconds, then his shoulders slumped and he looked up at the angel "alright..but you'd better get your ass back in one piece you get me?"

Sirus smirked "Oh I will~" he said confidently, picking the rifle up "now lets go!"

The others, having watched the short argument from a distance, were treated to an explanation of what was going to happen. They all added their protests to Cortes' initial one, but got the same reassurance the angel'd be fine.

* * *

First things first, there was a facility wide-evacuation to do. Taking over the PA system, Sirus told everyone in the building to "haul ass" to the warehouse they'd gone through after docking the s-22.

He shepherded Aran and the kids down there, Wayan remembering to collect a very pissed Di-Wan and bundle her into one of the Nazaire's cells. Cortes kept fussing the whole time about the plan. When it came time to board the Nazaire, Cortes got even more sulky and almost childish in his refusal to leave. But when Sirus whispered something secret to him, he bushed faintly and reluctantly let himself be nudged on board.

* * *

Watching the Nazaire take off with its crew of pirates, sphere employees and kids, Sirus turned and ran back inside. Overriding the access codes he made his way to the roof. The cold air ruffled his hair as he stared ahead at the small enclosure housing the self destruct controller. This had to be perfectly timed, he'd only have the power for one shot. He hadn't told Aran this, worried itd be too disappointing to bear if it failed. Not that he was going to let it..

Standing as far back as his own deductions allowed him, he settled the rifle on his shoulder and took a deep breath, pressing the button on the radio

"Aran..?"

"..." worried silence met him.

"Aran...?"

"I know..." standing at the wheel of the ship, Cortes felt his stomach tie itself in knots. His voice locked up and he had to force himself to repeat the code he'd been given earlier. The ship was quite noisy, all the kids were being babysat by the teens, who were being just as noisy in themselves. Only Wayan, who happened to be standing by the front of the ship, looked up in time to catch the look of hesitant anguish on Cortes' face. He understood the captains worry. The mechanical angel had brought Cortes back from the point of destruction, slowly nudged him back into a daily routine, cared unendingly for him, and gotten him to open up a lot more then anyone ever had.

Cortes relied on the angel to keep him back from falling into the dark pit Oslo's abuse had created. Even this long after the incident, they could all see how much Cortes was still hurting. His hatred of his power, his fear of the geneticist they'd rescued, that look in his eyes whenever the sphere rose up out of the darkness to terrorise him again. Sirus had risked a lot in befriending him at the time he had, he'd mentioned to Wayan Oslo would've killed him if he'd known. Wayan had asked wasn't he scared? Sirus had smiled, and calmly responded "I was terrified he'd disable me, but...Aran was facing the same fate, but he wouldn't let go for a second. I had a lot to learn from him..".

-You'd better get back in here in one piece..- Wayan thought, looking at the rapidly receding facility as they flew away -Cortes is painfully aware you're doing this for him, don't fail, you hear me..-

Back on the roof Sirus closed his eyes as the combat system revved up again, opening up all the speed response options.

"..." another silence from Aran.

"I'll come back, I promise.." he paused to take a deep breath "I love you Aran," he whispered.

"I know..." Cortes murmured back, then "yeah...you'd better come back!" he blurted, before cutting the radio off.

Sirus smiled, he knew Aran was worrying fit to bust, he intended to make sure his precious pirate captain got the most adoring apology once they got some time alone. When that would be, well...

Re-focusing, he aimed the rifle, his shoulder still aching, although the self-repair systems were already kicking in..

**3...**

Target locked, proximity set.

**2...**

"You'd better come back!"

**1...**

"Ill come back, I promise.."

**0.**

**FIRE.**

* * *

The air seemed to compress then erupt into a blaze of orange and red as the blast rocketed from the large rifle, hitting its target dead on. He kicked up from the rooftop, feeling the building shake violently as he did. Even as he flew upwards at maximum speed, diverting all power to propulsion, the heat from the explosion filled the air around him, causing the core temperature to rise...

The sound of the explosion was like a sonic boom, almost deafening. Then the shockwave hit, luckily lending itself to his escape by providing a current of air to ride on. But even with the help, the flames seemed dangerously close...

At last, just as core temperature rose to near critical, he cleared the blast area, cool air counteracting the searing heat as he soared free...

Now to locate the Nazaire.

* * *

Onboard the ship, Cortes was staring bleakly into space when the detonation happened. The sheer sonic boom made them all jump. Staring ahead, they could see the building going up in a burst of flame at that distance.

Cortes heart was in his throat as he fumbled with the radio button, choking the angels name, praying for a response.

None came, and he felt a surge of pain, enough to almost cause him to be sick.

Panicking, Wayan looked over at Dahlia "you picking any movement up on sensors?"

"Not a thing, the shockwaves screwing with the instruments...if he's out there...I cant pick him up.." she added hesitantly.

* * *

Sirus meanwhile was having more then a few problems. Since the combat mode was off, he was treated to a barrage of "battery low" warnings from his core. Even sustaining flight would run the battery down. Where was the Nazaire...?

There, up ahead in the clouds. Using the air current he steered his course until he was over the front deck, then let himself drop, angling the wings to slow the fall. Even then he hit the deck with more force then intended, the rifle clattering to the deck as the cable clipped loose.

He wobbled as he got to his feet, unaware he looked a bit of a mess. Clothing scorched in places, hair ruffled into a birds next by the strong wind, the wings dented in a few places from debris..

Looking up he seen the crew gawping, slack jawed at him. Greening sheepishly he offered them a cheeky jovial salute, and had barely taken a step towards the door when a blur flew out of the side door and careened into him at maximum speed. Knocked to the floor by the bowling ball, Sirus felt the still repairing shoulder joint protest against it. But when he seen who it was that had knocked him flat on his ass, he forgave them right away.

It was Aran, close to tears from relief, that was hugging onto him tightly as they sat there on the decking..

"Aran.." he spoke at last.

But Cortes shook his head, motioning to stop him talking "you said I could get mad when you got back? Well, im pissed right off.." but he was grinning, and the next second a mock-angry kiss sealed the deal.

* * *

The crews view of this cut off once Cortes tackle-hugged the angel.

They'd all been staring in horror at the empty air, when suddenly someone had dropped from the sky and landed with a thud on the main deck. a blonde-haired, AI person in fact.

They all stopped what they were doing, gawping at this sudden entrance. Then a blur of movement caught Dahlia's eye. She watched as Cortes hurtled out the door so fast he left an afterimage behind. Then she and everyone else seen Sirus turn towards the oncoming footsteps, then he was glomped by the over-worried captain and the two vanished from sight.

This earned a wave of laughter from everyone assembled, and even applause.

* * *

Out on the deck Cortes FINALLY stopped being mad long enough to take a breath.

Hearing the applause he grinned at the angel, who blinked a few times then laughed.

Together they just sat there and laughed for a few minutes, then staggered to their feet and went back inside.

Hearing Cortes laughter was a relief to everyone. Seeing the facility blow up followed by the return of his avenging angel brought so much happiness they couldn't help but feel happy for the rebel captain..

Cortes felt so shaky with relief, Sirus made him sit down and told him he'd fly them home. Cortes happily agreed. Heck, he certainly had a nice view from his chair. He recalled asking Sirus what had been so distracting once, only to be informed it had been his arse the AI had been focusing on. NOW he could easily see how it could happen...

If Sirus sensed his behind was getting a visual check-up he didn't say anything.

But history had to go an repeat itself. Nearly back to home, Sirus asked Aran how he was feeling, had the drug worn off yet?

"Hm?" Cortes blinked, startled from his daydream.

"Are you OK Aran?" the AI asked again.

"Uh, yeah, I'm OK..." Cortes held a hand out in front of him, willing the power to come. It flooded around his hand, the bright glow lighting up the seating area "yyyuup, im good now."

"That's a relief" Sirus smiled. When they docked he asked Aran as they were walking down the ramp;

"What were you staring at?" he asked Cortes, who snickered.

"Your arse" was the answer.

"Oh," Sirus blinked "rightly then." he nodded, looking unruffled. Then he cracked dup laughing, along with Cortes.

Mahad, getting a sense of deja vu from the last "I was staring at your arse" incident, where'd he'd seen those two laughing like loons, asked Dahlia;

"What's so funny?"

She shrugged "beats me?"

"All they seem to be doing since they found each other again is laugh.."

"Probably just shock," Wayan said "when you've been separated from everyone you know, and someone you care about was missing, finding 'em again has got to be such a relief laughing is the first response.."

Dahlia nodded "that's true, they'll calm down after a bit.."

* * *

There was a great big cheer when Cortes showed up in the tavern. People crowded round, relieved to see their leader back in one piece. Sirus smiled, seeing how many people cared about Aran was sweet. Of course, he adored the human, to be without him, even for that short while, had been madness, and loneliness.

A proximity sensor alerted him to Pratucchi and his friends entering.

"Oh look, it came crawling back." Pratucchi drunkenly snapped.

There was an other snap, this time as Sirus let the wings unfold partway, the metal feathers locking into place with that chilling sound. He was glaring at Pratucchi with an expression Mahad defined as murderous.

"And of course where one goes, the lapdog-bot follows!" Pratucchi added.

"If you have a problem, have the guts to spit it out," Sirus snarled "I for one am sick of hearing you whine all day. And ive worked with a big whiney pain, its called Di-Wan!"

"You think you're so damn smart dontcha? Well at least IM not a machine, I know my emotions are real, not just lines of code!"

Sirus didn't flinch, he'd expected abuse about what he was, but somehow Pratucchi just made him more mad.

"Pity you only have the one emotion, childish arrogance is my guess!" he snapped back.

"You cocky little-" Pratucchi glared at him, "At least I don't have to sleep with whoever's in charge to stay here!"

"Like you could!" was the snickering reply.

Cortes winced, this was going to get ugly. What was with Sirus, getting so mad? he never normally reacted to Pratucchis lame-ass taunts. While it was true he did sometimes get flack from Pratucchis lot about being about "as straight as a roundabout" as Mahad so tastelessly put it, Sirus never normally reacted.

Perhaps he'd finally gotten sick of it.

Pratucchi was sick of not getting a rise out of the angel, he looked so pleased with himself the smug git..

"Did you're creator program ya to pick sides in something other then a war?"

"And if he did?" Sirus laughed "what're ya gona do about it?" He held a hand up to his ear, as if listening for something "see? That, THATS the sound of nobody GIVING A CRAP." He shook his head, walking right up to Pratucchi "im getting sick and tired of listening to you're petty narrow minded gay-bashing!"

There, he'd said it. There was a deadly hush in the bar, people looked at each other, looked like Pratucchi was going to have to own up to the shit he'd been pulling.

Pratucchi opened and shut his mouth like a fish:

"What-?"

"And, what's more-" Sirus interjected before he could speak. Back at the bar, Mahad silently interjected "your honour" onto the end of that statement.

Sirus folded his arms, walking around the babbling Pratucchi, speaking so close to his ear the next second that the man nearly peed his pants "-what make you think its going to change anything?"

As Pratucchi back-pedalled away from him Sirus tilted his head the side, then spun on his heel to deliver a question to the assembled crowd "now, I ask all of you.." he hummed and looked thoughtful "does anyone here honestly care what prefence their leader has? OR any of the crew for that Matter!"

People looked at each other, and most shook their heads or spoke up.

"NO,"

"Sure im no fan of the idea, but people are free to choose aren't they?"

"Why, should I?"

"Its made no difference, gay or otherwise we couldn't 'ave anyone better!"

"You're always gonna get people who cant get with the times, tell that little squirt to bugger off!" this was directed at Pratucchi who snarled.

Sirus smiled sweetly,

"Thank you, now would you say having a certain preference means we should stop living our own lives?"

"Pfft, as if!"

"Noo..."

"That's just so old fashioned, didn't all that gay-hating stuff already happen?"

"We aren't going to stop ya!" that as from Wayan, with Dahlia adding "hell no!" as a chorus.

"Go right ahead handsome!"

The last one made Sirus blush slightly, but he shook it off, struggling not to laugh.

"So," he pivoted on one heel and turned that baleful glare on Pratucchi, "where did you dig out those hideously old fashioned views from hmm?"

He walked closer to him, arms folded behind his back "OR is it just MY presence you cant tolerate? Not surprisingly, I learnt most of what I know about human behaviour from the rebels Oslo caught. Yup, that's right, I was taught by the likes of all these people here, people like Aran! Living on the monolith, what would I know about caring for anyone? Oslo sure didn't fucking teach me that...I learnt myself, from those he caught.."

He glared at Pratucchi, his voice cold "so don't you dare accuse me of taking this lightly. Aran could've just as easily told me to scram, booted me off at the nearest block. But he decided to LET me stay. Before he even knew I cared about him. Yeah, it looks risky, keeping sphere tech around, but given that brain-dead organisations dead now, don't you think that tactics worn a bit thin. You don't respect anyone's decisions do you? You're all bent outta shape because you hate seijins, well from what ive seen, the seijins are the nicest people here! Mila and her kids, a loving family, like any other, and of course Aran, the person who's been safeguarding your sorry ass for all these years. He doesn't have to, but he does, because he chooses to, the least you could do, you ungrateful jackass, is have the guts to respect that!"

A BIG cheer followed this outburst. Sirus looked slightly flushed, angry but defiant. Pratucchi began to wonder if this guy really was cold as he'd first thought..

Cortes was blushing bright red, but he was smiling. He was proud of the angel for butting heads with Pratucchi.

"So in retrospect, you have no goddamn right to whine and bitch the way you do! You sit around doing nothing to help anyone, you run and hide when there's trouble, then you go and blame everything on the seijins! Lena defeated Oslo, she saved everyone's asses, yours included, she's a far better person than you, she's 12 and smart AND a seijin! I think that puts your whiny theory right outta business!"

People cheered, Lena blushed, but she looked happy.

"If you don't like it here, perhaps you ought to leave, go live somewhere else, because as you can see, nobody cares what side you choose here, I've recorded every incident of petty harassment ive had to endure, and YOUR Lot are always responsible. Perhaps we," he indicated everyone around him "aren't the ones making the mistakes here. You are."

Pratucchi had always thought peopled side with him on his little anti-seijin war. But then the captain had returned from being Oslo-napped, complete with seijin abilities. And since that humiliating incident where Cortes had sent him flying, he'd been pissed. So when picking on the captains powers hadn't gotten him anywhere, he'd settled for targeting his choice of partner instead. It made him so mad that this seemingly perfect Ai had walked right in and made himself at home. He was all smiles and charm, people had taken to him instantly. He was the type Pratucchi hated, all sweetness and light..

So he'd figured he'd take out two birds with one stone, since he'd discovered Cortes and the blonde were dating. He'd been out walking when he'd seen two figures goofing about on a grassy embankment the night before the kharzhem attack. A closer squint had revealed it to be pinky and perky mucking about MAKING OUT.

But now it seemed the Ai wasn't as big a pushover as he'd estimated. What had he said about being brought up by pirates pretty much? It DID make sense, as if Oslo would deliberately design a robot with an effeminate attitude and oddball behaviour. He had to have learnt about human emotions somewhere. Even a copycat would have to put effort into mimicking emotions, and something told him the angel was deadly serious about the captain. Even if the guy wasn't human, he acted like one...

Catching his opponents gaze again he seen the angel had folded his arms over his chest, light blue eyes fixed on him. He looked pissed, not willing to back down. The subject of his affections was watching the angel with an expression he couldn't pin down. Part adoration, part worry, part...admiration?

"So what're ya going to do?"

Pratucchi knew he hadn't a leg to stand on now, nobody'd forget a rant like THAT in a hurry. Anything he said would be treated as slander against that moronic couple.

But he had one last thing he could do...gearing up he ran at the AI, aiming to punch the smug grin right off his face..

Sirus smirked. He'd been waiting for Pratucchi to do that. It meant he officially had an excuse to fight back.

Taking advantage of his systems capabilities, he analysed the tactics eh could use. Aha..

He grabbed Pratucchi fist as it swung at him, pivoted round and using a small surge of power, flipped the man over his shoulder and onto the floor. There he pinned his attackers shoulder with one foot, twisting him arm slightly to stop him getting up.

"Care to repeat that?" he laughed, a big grin on his face.

"Oi, hey!" Pratucchi could see the Nazaire crew, Cortes included, watching with amusement, "stop him why wont you?"

"Pfft" Cortes sniggered "why? You started it, so he's finishing it, unless you want to keep fighting, in which case, he's going to kick your sorry ass."

"What?" Pratucchi gawped.

"Still going to act like a child?" Sirus asked "or are you going to leave me and Aran alone?" he put a bit more pressure on the mans shoulder "because you see, you aggravate Aran, I read it as a threat, and you don't wana see what happens THEN!"

Speak of the devil...during the madness, Mahad had been watching what cheng was doing with the laptop. He'd downloaded the combat videos of Sirus fighting and was reviewing them. Mahad whispered something to cheng, who tapped a few keys. but instead of slowing the speed down so he could watch the ass kicking in slow motion, cheng inadvertently switched it to the main screen.

The scene in question was the ass-whooping of the first seijin brig. Cheng had gotten bored, and had hacked the security cameras as well, compiling the footage into a neat little slideshow video of the view from the cameras mixed with the first person view from Sirus' system.

The poor AI just about had a heart attack when he heard cheng swear and seen the video flip to main screen. People crowded round to gawp, and Sirus felt a sudden surge of panic. Feeling himself going red from embarrassment he turned and bolted through the crowd, escaping out the rear exit. Where he nearly ran right into Christophe.

"Holy crap, what's got you on the run?" he asked, then frowned, seeing Sirus looked, was he upset? he'd never seen him fidgety.

"Uh.." Sirus didn't know how to explain, but tried "cheng accidentally...let that recording of the first fight we had in the maintenance bay..load on the main screen in there," he indicated the tavern.

"That bother you?" Chris asked.

Sirus sighed "yeah, it does..." He whispered "its bad enough I still get funny looks because im not human, but that's only going to enforce it! Pratucchi and his little thugs'll have enough ammunition to taunt Aran about it for months..." he trailed off.

Chris nodded "ah, I see. Its Aran your concerned about. Well don't be. Aran has never been bothered by what you can do, I know my brother, and if didn't like having you around he'd say so. But as it is, you've cheered him up beyond anything ive tried. Arans very stubborn, if he wants to stick with you, which I can tell ya right now he does, he wont take any crap from anybody! You shouldn't either.."

Sirus slumped back against the wall, nodded mutely. Chris suddenly laughed, causing Sirus to frown at him?

"What?" he asked.

"Your worrying your being an Ai is going to get ya grief, and you're showing more humanity in 5 seconds then Pratucchi and his brainless buddies. Trust me, artificial it may be, but emotion is emotion, its how ya FEEL right? If ya feel it, its real. so just think of it that way!"

Sirus blinked, then smiled "yeah..youre right.." then a sharp alarm bleated inside his head. Core power at 15%, shutting down system.

"Oh shit.." he whispered, feeling the system starting to drift into sleep mode.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Chris seen the angel go from chirpy to wobbly, then he took a step forward and collapsed. Chris was just about able to catch him.

* * *

Heres we go ^_^ Thanks to all who read this, enjoy!

Random Fact: "Twat" is in the british spellchecker on on my word processor..


	19. Enter Hitomi

"Hey?" the blonde had suddenly blacked out. He wasn't moving. Wait, he was a mechanical, so what would make him pass out?

"Ah, you ran your batteries too low didn't ya?" he poked the snoozing AI. He picked him up and brought him back inside, lying him on the bed in the staff room. Then he went to go find Aran.

The video of the AIs ass-kicking of the seijin brig had just finished and the people assembled cheered. Pratucci looked about to wet himself. That was what he'd face if he harmed Cortes? Screw it, the dippy captain could go to hell as far as he cared!

Wayan remarked to Cortes that perhaps he shouldn't let Sirus watch all those old law and order shows.

"Pretty awesome huh?" Mahad called. Cortes had watched him with astonishment. Sirus' fighting abilities had stunned him at first, the ferociousness of them. But he knew Sirus had been a bodyguard at one time, so fighting was normal. But the array of his talents only made Cortes respect him more. And he wasn't alone. A lot of whispered comments rearmed on how the person speaking wouldn't mind being able to kick ass so effortlessly. Not to mention he'd make a great guard.

"Aran." elbowing the petrified Pratuchhi aside Christophe prodded his little brothers elbow.

"Hm? What's wrong?" Cortes asked.

"Sirus, he's passed out. Battery low I think.."

"WHAT?" Cortes panicked and leapt of the stool he'd been sat on, "what happened?"

"He legged it after the video started, I think he's unhappy about having that flashed all over puerto angel.."

"Ah." Cortes looked over at Cheng, who was apologising for the mess and trying to restore order to his laptop "ill ask Cheng to erase it.."

"That'd help. I think he's worried it'll affect what everyone thinks, as if they'll suddenly find him dangerous or something..."

"As if!" Cortes snorted, but he looked worried anyway "is he OK?"

"He needs recharging or however he runs. He literally just shut down."

Cortes recalled the Shinseki incident, where generating a massive EMP had knocked Sirus' power right down.

"Lets get him to the Vectors, right away!"

So Cortes slipped away from the whispering voices in the tavern.

* * *

Dahlia wandered over to Cheng "that for real? He's seriously that good at breaking brigs to bits?"

Cheng nodded "its amazing, the programs so intricate, I'd love to meet whoever designed it.."

"Yeah, but its also kind of unfair he has to have it, see once the "attack modes" started, Vector said it cant be stopped until the targets obliterated..." Mahad added.

"Yeowch," Dahlia winced "that's brutal, and pretty unfair to boot. Poor guy, no wonder he bolted."

"Bolted?" Mahad looked around, noting she was right, Sirus was gone. So were Chris and Cortes oddly "when?"

"When you two put that up there!" Dahlia indicated the screen "he looked like someone had just given him a massive shock, then he just turned and ran out the back.."

Cheng winced "oops, I didn't think..."

"Yeah," Mahad said softly "id be dead happy I could fight like he does! But still, having someone else in control of its got to be freaky, even if that person is someone he adores. He still cant.."

"Control it himself." Dahlia finished "hey Cheng, isn't there any way you can hand control of the program over to him?"

Cheng shook his head "He's wayy to advanced Dahlia. No kidding, I can barely make sense of his basic functions, his self-teaching program core is way above my level, ditto his fighting defence codes!"

"Dang," the blonde girl sighed "itd cheer him up I think.."

All three fell silent worrying about the AI.

At last Cheng sighed "the only chance we've got is to find his creator, the lead programmer, but we don't know who it is, Sirus hasn't mentioned him.."

Mahad nodded "I mean, the guys got to be a total uber genius to make something so smart it runs off and joins the rebels!"

Cheng laughed "true!"

Dahlia nodded, chuckling "dang straight..".

* * *

In the Vectors room, Cortes and Chris had hooked the beloved AI to the generator, and Vector was monitoring his power level via the main computer.

Having made sure he was stable enough, Vector popped out to run a few errands, leaving the Cortes brothers alone with the snoozy AI.

Cortes sighed "I didn't think he'd collapse...I guess detonating the facility took more out of him then I guessed, especially since he had to use the combat modes as well. I should've told him to leave it.."

"And I doubt he would've listened." Christophe butted in, looking over at his fretting brother "he did it so you'd stop feeling bad. It worries him to see how much it upsets you every time those bastdrds pop up outta the woodwork.."

Cortes fell silent. Was that really why? All because of him? He smiled faintly, watching the snoozing angel. Little things like this only made him love the AI even more. he knew how weird it must look, a seijin-human and a super-smart computer in a human body. But Sirus was more then just a walking super-puter, he was as human as Cortes was. From the day he'd met him, Cortes had been fascinated by him. He looked so human, reacted so strongly, acted so kindly, that he'd attracted Cortes' curiosity. Had he not held out a hand to Cortes after that first terrible assault, Cortes probably wouldn't survived for long.

He owed the angel his life for keeping his spirit sup those awful days in captivity..

But gratitude had soon shifted to something else, and he realised he couldn't bear to think of life without the angels support. So when Sirus had refused to leave his side on getting to puerto angel, he'd been so relieved. But he also had to deal with falling in love with someone so soon after the assaults on him by Oslo. Itd been terrifying, contemplating how painful it would be if they ever tried THAT. But in the end he blurted his fear out to his sort-of partner, and was told he'd never do anything to hurt him. And he believed him..

That first time well...he blushed recalling it. Even though he'd been scared as hell to let anyone, even the unendingly sweet Sirus, lay a hand on him, he'd suppressed the fear long enough to let him get close..

And it had never returned. The recovery of Aran Cortes had started properly that day. Realising something wasn't as scary as he'd feared gave him hope the rest of his life could improve as well, but only if he had help. The giddy feeling of knowing you have someone by your side who wont let you fall is an amazing healer..

Things had gone from strength to strength after that. Cortes old spirit had returned, and his happiness that none of the crew cared he was dating an AI only made it even sweeter. Unknown to him, the crew were eternally grateful to the angel for taking care of their captain. After what he'd been through he deserved it.

Cortes sighed, frowning as a sudden thought occurred to him.

"There's no way kicking Di-Wan's ass is the end of this...there's bound to be other Sphere leaders. If Di-Wan's going round kidnapping kids, maybe its part of a wide-spread plan tom repopulate the training centres?"

Chris thought about it "ya got a point there, no way Di-Wan's the only crazy out there...well," he shrugged "I guess we'll just haveta go round kicking all their asses!"

"What was that about someone's ass?" a sleepy voice butted in. The AI sat up a second later rubbing his eyes "urfgh...that feels better..."

"We have more asses to kick, but it can wait, I believe my brother wants to maul you now." Chris said with a straight face, then quickly ran for the door laughing as Cortes tried to throw a book at him.

Sirus chuckled, pulling Aran off the chair and onto his lap, wrapping his arms around the annoyed pirate.

"You OK Aran?" he asked, kissing his forehead gently.

Cortes visibly relaxed, leaning against Sirus "mm-hmm, IM fine, what about you-? You should've said you were running low.."

"I'm sorry, I completely forgot when that mess with pratucci started.." he sighed softly.

Cortes frowned, hating to see his normally cheerful lover all unhappy. "don't worry, you got your point across, I doubt pratucci has many followers left anymore. Its about time he got taken down a peg.." he grinned, kissing the angel, nuzzling his nose, eskimo kiss again "it couldn't been done better by anyone better looking~!"

Sirus blushed "speak for yourself Aran.." but he hugged the man tightly, cherishing the warmth of the humans body nestled so close to his.

They passed a few peaceful minutes before they heard the door opening downstairs. By the sounds of it was the Vector. By the time he got to the room, Cortes had slid reluctantly off Sirus' lap and they sat there side by side looking totally innocent when the old man entered.

"Oh, didn't know you two were still here, everything OK?"

Sirus smiled "Fine, Vector.."

"All better now?" the Vector asked, checking the screen "yes, you're free to go."

Sirus smiled, disconnecting from the machine, and bidding farewell to the Vector, wandered outside into the sunlight.

"Aran I uh...about that video Cheng played..."

"I know, you didn't feel too comfortable about it, ill ask him to delete them..."

Sirus looked relieved "thanks cutie Aran~, I know it sounds pathetic but...I don't like seeing that part of myself, I cant really control it, the program Oslo commissioned takes total control.."

"So you cant access any of those techniques in your normal state?"

"Not really, no...none of the advanced stuff anyway.."

"Hm..sounds like we need to track down the guy who created your program, d'ya remember his name?"

Sirus had to dig through several files before finding it "yeeaaah, its a Professor Gideon.."

"OK, we'll keep an eye out when were on the missions, see if we can locate him, alright?"

For this Cortes was rewarded with a very happy smooch, in public, from the angel. Not that he minded...

* * *

The following three days were peaceful, in which Cortes and Sirus pretty much stayed in their apartment, with the Ai cooking all of the rebel leaders favourite foods, and overall making a fuss of him.

Pratucci whined for a few days but smartly stopped every time Sirus stepped into view. He had no desire to be on the receiving end of the AI's boot, and so reluctantly left him and Cortes as far away as possible.

Cortes kept a close eye on Sirus, wondering still what had caused the temper explosion in the tavern. In the end Wayan simply postulated Sirus was developing a very human-like short fuse with pratucci. To which Cortes laughed and added "he's joined the club then?"

For a few days nothing of huge interest happened, a few patrollers were sighted, but that matched Cortes' theory the Sphere weren't totally down and out yet…

* * *

Then, out on a routine sweep, Sirus flew some distance ahead of the Nazaire. Simultaneously sorting through scanner data and his own personal daydreams, he picked up a faint transmission on his radio. Scanning it internally he realised it was a secure channel, a burst frequency.

It was a girls voice, young.

"Please help us, the guardians have been kidnapping kids...there's so many of us..." then it crackled and disappeared.

He frowned, tracing it as far as he could, it wasn't far ahead, a few hours flight at most.

He turned and flew back, hitting the radio again-

"Aran?"

"Hm?"

"Did you guys just hear that transmission, short burst, low range.."

Cortes looked over at Cheng, who shook his head saying "I got nothing.."

"Damn," Sirus uttered "I know I picked something up.."

"Your systems must be more sensitive then ours, and if it was faint when you got it, we'd have no hope.." Cheng added.

"Right. Well I've recorded it so set the computer to analyse it,"

"Gotcha!"

"What do you think it is?" that as Aran again.

"I'm not sure. It sounded like a child, a girl..."

Cortes recalled the first time he met Lena and Mahad...when Cheng had persuaded him to go back for them after the patroller they'd been in had crashed.

"We'll look into it," he said softly, and he instinctively knew Sirus was smiling,

"Thanks Aran..."

He arrived back about 10 minutes later, darting inside to where Cheng waited. They ran the file through various filters and scans, and at last concluded that it was genuine as far a they could tell.

"She sounded genuinely scared...I wonder what's happened. A repeat of last time, where Di-Wan went mad and kidnapped those children.."

"Its worrying, but I thought this might happen," Cortes called down from the wheel "no way Di-Wan's the only fanatic out there.."

"Are we going to investigate?" Mahad asked.

"Aye, we got to give it a try..."

Sirus thought about it "remember what happened last time though...we faced a lot of brigs, and that place only had alike and Di-Wan to deal with...this place could have multiple guardians..."

"True..." Cortes sighed "we need to plan carefully.."

* * *

After some thought it was decided to let Sirus go on ahead, to hack the places security, seeing as he'd done an amazing job at screwing the computers in the ice base. That little custom written virus had done its job...

In case they HAD developed an antidote for the previous one, Sirus spent a few hours coding a brand new one.

The next day they set out, hoping it wasn't too late. Sirus directed them to the last known co-ordinates of the transmission, and prepared to go ahead. With the virus disks in his pocket, the Heavens Gate rifle on his back, and the warmth of a hug from Aran still fresh in his memory, he took off.

He flew on and on, then out of the clouds rose a patroller. He quickly dodged round it, then fired a high power shot from the rifle through its engines, sending it falling from the sky in a blaze of fire..

He navigated his way around the various defences, gun turrets mounted of loose clumps of rock, more patrollers, and at last sighted the building. It looked like a massive skyscraper. He landed on the top, spotting an access hatch. Kneeling down he quickly slotted in the first chip. This one initiated an emergency power cut, it would only last a few seconds, and hopefully be attributed to a system error.

He levered the hatch open, dropping down into a corridor. Anytime now the Nazaire should be causing a diversion..

Some minutes later as he ran along he heard a boom, and the building shook. "There ya go Aran.." he smiled. He ran to the nearest panel and prised it open, inserting the second chip. It was an improved version of his previous virus. The security consoles all froze, and the alarms died. Doors unlocked, and the brigs suddenly began firing wildly at each other.

Sirus ran quickly along the corridor, he had an idea where to start looking for the kids.

* * *

Hitomi sat in the cell and shivered. She only hoped her message had gotten out.

Shed once been a respected pupil of the Oracle guardian school. But then she'd begun to hate the Sphere, and started developing a device to get out of there. In the form of a hairclip, shed been slowly storing seijin power in it when they'd busted her for theft of blueprints and slammed her in a cell. Of course that hadn't been the end of it. She'd also ah other tricks up her sleeve. A radio device for starters. Very small and thin, she'd had it tucked under her clothing when they'd caught her, and she'd spent the time she had alone working a radio program. Securely encoded as best she knew how, she'd finally gotten the chance to send it.

It'd been a freak weather incident, a heavy thunderstorm had caused a power cut when it hit the main power mast on the roof. She'd used the gap between the old mast being removed and the new mast being fitted to send a brief burst transmission from her cell. Despite the cells being underground, she knew the booster she'd attached to the signal should get it far enough for SOMEONE, anyone to hear..

And now, after a day of waiting, the lights had gone out again. Not just that, but the cells all flipped open. The security guards were too busy fending off the brigs that'd suddenly turned rouge to notice her and several other prisoners escape.

So now she ran and ran, darting through the corridors, timing her runs under the doors that jarred open and closed unnervingly, as if they were stuck. She'd taken a laser pistol from an unconscious guard and now held it tightly as she ran.

But then THAT brig had started following her. A seijin brig. They were kept in special storage, and hadn't been affected by the security breach it seemed. Now this one was chasing her..

She ran round a corner, head down, lungs bursting from barely being able to breathe..

The laser pistol was out of ammo. She'd made a few dents in it, but it hadn't helped much.

Then she ran into something soft, and before she could gasp, or even shoot it, with a seijin blast, an arm encircled her, pulling her to the side, and she seen a gleaming white gun barrel appear in the corner of her vision, then BOOM. a blast rocketed down the hall, the seijin brig had no time to run as the blast tore through it like rice paper.

She stared, goggle-eyed as its smoking remains landed on the floor with a clatter.

"You OK?" a voice, male.

She jumped, pushing back from her rescuer. She stood there a moment, taking in the man in front of her.

Average height, he had blonde hair roughly to his shoulders, with a floppy fringe over baby blue eyes. Dressed in a pirate uniform of green and black, he was holding a rifle in one hand.

"Are you hurt?" his smooth voice interrupted her staring.

"Uh...no, I'm OK..." she felt herself calm down, this guy was a rebel. She was safe. "Who are you?"

"My name's Sirus miss, I'm from the rebel forces...I got your transmission. You are?"

"I'm Hitomi. ex-guardian to be precise! I can't believe it worked!" she grinned.

He smiled kindly "indeed. My crew are outside, how many of you are there?"

"About 30 kids right now..used to just be 10, but suddenly more began showing up...kidnapped. At least, that's what I heard...the adults were being kept in lock-up..they were talking about someone called "Alpha Zero" and a genome thing...said they weren't even seijins" she frowned, wishing the cells other occupants had known more..

Then she noticed Sirus had a funny look on his face. "Alpha zero? you...know about that..?" he asked.

"Do you?" she shot back.

He smiled sadly "as it happens i do...what your thinking of is the top secret "Project Sunlight Gene", Oslo's idea to create seijins via genetic therapy.."

She stared at him "Your serious? They really..." she trailed off in disgust.

"I'm afraid so...Its a personal mission of our captain they be destroyed.."

"Well you showed up at a great time, the securities gone to shit."

Sirus laughed "i know, that was me!"

She stared "whoa, your a hacker? nice..."

"Thank you., But its just a simple virus in wrote...should do the job. But wed best hurry..even though the chances of an anti-virus being written only top 10%, i don't want to take the risk."

Hitomi raised an eyebrow. Geek hacker? she wondered. He seemed very smart in regards to computers, and to program a virus to turn the brigs on the Sphere was a nice trick.

Hearing footsteps he motioned her to run "Lets go!"

"Where's the rest of the crew?" she asked as they ran.

"Infiltrating from outside...the security breach is making enough mess to limit the resources available to fight back."

"Right.." he sounded so...formal.

"Which way to where the kids are?" he asked.

"Right now they'll probably in the training yard...if its under lockdown they'll still be there.."

"Right. Lead the way...I wasn't able to download schematics for this place..."

"Alright computer boy, this way!" she chuckled, racing ahead.

Behind her Sirus chuckled, if only she knew..

* * *

More seijin brigs assaulted them along the way. Sirus quickly tossed her a backup laser gun he'd had attached to his belt. He seemed to be sticking with the big white rifle. It was a funny looking weapon. She assumed the wire was a headset lead, a communications device. Had she known it was a USB cable of sorts, she'd been very startled.

She was going to find out soon though.

They emerged into the yard, and her heart sank. The kids were there, sure, but so were some of the seijin instructors.

"Well well, should've known YOUD show up thief.."

Hitomi snarled, her fists clenching. Out in the bright sunlight she felt her power returning...

Sirus ran up to stand beside her and the instructors jaws dropped.

"holy...commander, isn't he-?"

"The lead one, the commander of the base snarled.

"That's right..."Sirus" I believe."

"huh, your famous," Hitomi remarked. Sirus laughed shortly "in more ways then one," he commented.

She wondered what he meant, was eh an ex guardian too?

"Traitor attracts traitor, i guess that's appropriate," the commander laughed.

"You wanna fight, bring it on!" Hitomi snapped. her hand went to her hair clip, she'd been saving energy for a long time.

Sirus didn't move, just waited.

"Well wipe you scum from the face of the earth!" the commander screamed, motion his aides to capture the two standing in the doorway.

Beneath the shouts of assent Hitomi swore she heard the blonde guy mutter "opening shot noted," then he was off. He intercepted one of them midway, grabbing the attackers arm as he prepared a seijin blast. Then he ducked down and swept the guys feet out from under him with such force the guy hit the floor and fell unconscious.

Hitomi waited until three were in range of her and let the power she'd amassed break loose. The surge she generated knocked all three to the hard cement ground, concussing them right off the bat.

The commander stared, how had she-? Shit, time to call in backup.

Sirus heard him calling on the radio and raised the rifle. The commander swore as it blasted the radio out of his hands, burning them badly.

"Your too late...there here!" he laughed madly. Sirus looked up in time to see around 6 seijin brigs drop down from the roof to join them.

"Aran.." he spoke into the radio. A muffled voice muttered something back and Hitomi noticed Sirus suddenly let the rifle clatter to the floor.

"Stay well back" he spoke bluntly to her., She stared, wondering why his voice suddenly changed tone.

"Get him!" the commander shouted, pointing at Sirus "kill the renegade first!"

Sirus stood his ground as the first two raced at him.

What was he doing? Hitomi stared. Move you idiot she screamed silently. Then she seen something that made her jaw drop.

The guy threw off the green jacket, underneath he wore a black polo neck. But that wasn't that amazing. What WAS, were the two huge metal wings that snapped out to either side of him. Their edges like carving blades, they looked deadly. He kicked off from the ground, punching the first brig in the chest, enough to punch right trough it.

Hitomi stared. What WAS he? He wasnt human that was damn sure! After tearing a hole in the first he proceeded to deal with the others.

He flipped over one, swing the left wing back so its serrated edges tore the brigs head off. One jumped on his back but a body slam soon knocked it off, and again the wing blades tore its chest to ribbons.

Herded at the far end of the yard the kids were watching with wide eyes. Then suddenly the guardian with them was hit by a massive seijin ball, slamming his face into the floor, knocking him out. A man stood behind him, surrounded by seijin energy. He smiled at the kids, garbed in a pirate uniform.

"No worry kids, your safe now."

"Who are you? Are you with him?" one of the kids pointed at Sirus "he's making the evil brigs explode..."

"Yeah, he's one of mine," Cortes smiled, watching Sirus.

Hitomi summoned another seijin ball, and shot a brig in the back with it as it charged Sirus, it hit the neck, severing the wires, causing it to stop, jerk abut, then explode.

Then she noticed the commander behind her. Too late she turned and was knocked flying by a burst.

But before she got get hit twice a voice called "Oi, lardass! Didn't yer mother ever tell ya not to hit a girl?"

Another man was there, and by the kids a teen in red with a boomerang was herding the kids out the door.

The guy wore a tartan belt and a mostly brown uniform.

The commander looked him over and smirked, but at the back of his mind something seemed familiar. Then it hit him. The rumours of a certain text subject and the robot..

"So, you came back. I believe its "alpha Zero", isn't it?"

The man flinched slightly, but glared back at the commander "yeah, and whatcha going to do about it!"

Boy this was a day for the books. a Robot AND this famed "Alpha Zero". He was the guy from the rumours..the escapee.

Cortes recalled the whole incident, the hatred he still held for the Sphere, the strength he'd finally regained thanks to the love and care of his crew and Sirus. A blazing aura suddenly surrounded him, and he met the commanders gaze evenly.

Hitomi could sense it, he was strong, but his power had a dark tint to it.

So when he and the commander went at it all she could do was stare.

Cortes focused on beating this guy back. But it was hard effort, and all the while Sirus was battling those freakish brigs.

-Don't let him get hurt- he prayed he slammed the guy right in the gut. The man staggered, and Cortes drew up every memory he had of his suffering during the gene project. The blast he sent at the man was enough to smoosh the commander into the far wall, where he slid to the ground. Out cold.

Cortes let his aura dissipated and he slumped slightly, catching his breath. Boy had THAT used u a lot.

"Whoa, anger management in action," a woman's voice remarked, and he looked over at Hitomi.

"Tell me about it," he laughed "who're you?"

"Hitomi, your little ass-kicking friend over there rescued me."

"Sirus.."

"Yeah, that's him. But uh, one question? WHAT THE HECK ISN HE?"

"Formerly model 0, he was Oslo's bodyguard. He's an AI -Artificial Intelligence."

"Your kidding? How can something so...human exist, its amazing.."

"I know.." Cortes smiled warmly, watching the Ai fight "he saved me from the gene therapy, helped me stay alive in that place...then he escaped with me to our home.."

"Wow..so that's what they meant by "traitor", he did a bunk with you and escaped?"

"Pretty much...its a long story..."

At last the last of brigs was dead, with a bit of help from the rifle again.

The wings folded down, close to his back. He stared into space a moment, then turned, and , spotting Aran standing there, holding the discarded jacket, ran over.

"Aran!" he called happily and he came up to them "your OK?"

"IM fine...you hurt..?"

"NNoo..well a few cuts and scrapes, but nothing auto repair won't fix later.."

"That's good."

Next the cute blonde smiled at Hitomi "you OK?"

"Still good...blew off a bit of steam kicking ass there.."

"So I seen, impressive" the Ai noted "you design that device?"

"Yes, its been my sole dream to use it to help take down the Sphere, and so far its working!"

Cortes radio crackled, and Mahad announced he had rounded up all the kids, and was taking them to the Nazaire.

"Roger that, we'll round any that're left.." he looked at Sirus "how long will that virus hold?"

"Long enough...if they try to remove it, there's a 50/50 chance they'll set off the doomsday file."

"And that is...?" Hitomi asked. Sirus smiled.

"A little addition, if triggered, it wipes anything and everything, including the brigs codes, ID codes...wipes everything clean...they'll be defenceless..."

"Here's hoping they set it off then!" Hitomi added "id love to see their faces!"

* * *

As they ran she studied the guy called Cortes. His power was weird, why?

Sensing her probing stare Cortes winced and ran even faster.

Hitomi opened her mouth to ask, but Sirus shot her a pleading look and shook his head, begging her not to. So she nodded, letting it go for now..

They ran after Hitomi, as she guided them towards the cells again. Most of the prisoners had legged it, but a few remained. They too stared slack-jawed at Sirus but the Ai ushered them to move, they could ask questions later.

Back in the courtyard the commander woke up, seething in rage. Alpha Zero had beaten HIM. Like hell he was letting this stand, he was going to hunt him down and destroy him. Him and that traitor Sirus...

So he made his escape while the facility was steeped in chaos...

"Mahad!" Cortes yelled at the radio "you got those kids out?"

"Yup, they're in the Hyperion, where are you guys?"

"Heading to your location, we've got the adults from the cell blocks!"

"Roger that!"

Cortes sighed as they legged it along, was this place a genome facility too?

Noticing a minute change in his posture Sirus ran alongside him "what's wrong Aran?"

"This place..?"

"Is it a facility? I don't know...I need to find the central computer..."

Cortes stopped, as did Sirus and Hitomi.

"What's up?" she asked.

"Were going to find the central computer." Cortes stated.

"OH! I can get ya there easy, follow me..." Hitomi grinned, more chances to wreck the Sphere's gear.

Sending the captives on ahead to Mahad, Cortes and the AI followed Hitomi as she ran up a flight of stairs, and along a maze of hallways. The security was taken care of by the AIs combat abilities, and given it consisted of seijin brigs, good thing too.

As before, Sirus virus had locked the main doors to the security console room. It took him only a second to unlock them, and when he, Cortes, and Hitomi charged in, weapons brandished, the IT staff were quick to drop theirs. Seeing Sirus in full combat mode was enough to quell any protests. They'd seen the security cameras. Plus Hitomi as well, that clip of hers...

Cortes smirked slightly, seeing no resistance, he motioned Sirus to the controls, while he climbed up onto a table, clearing his throat to get everyone's attention.

"NOW, as you may know, my good friend here is Oslo's ex-guard. Don't interfere with him, or you WILL end up burger meat. I know all about "Sunlight Gene", and I'm here to take it down."

People gasped and traded concerned looks. How could this guy know? Unless...

Cortes laughed coldly "yes, that right, I'm the escaped "experiment". And now I'm going to make you people pay for what you've done. I wont allow anyone else to be tortured that way."

Sirus interrupted him, looking up from the console "its a positive Aran, the facilities under high security, I doubt many know about it here. But its a genome facility, similar to the monoliths."

"Take it out!" Cortes commanded. Sirus nodded. "Will do, activating self destruct sequence." he looked over at the terrified staff "i suggest you get your things and run for the saint Nazaire if you want to keep on living. This place will detonate in 15 minutes."

Sirus removed a data chip from the console and pocketed it. Shouldering the rifle he motioned for them all to move.

Then he hit one more button and the destruct countdown began. Alarm klaxons blared, a computerized voice announcing the imminent detonation of the facility.

* * *

As the saint Nazaire turned away from the facility Hitomi cats one last lingering glare at the facility shed grown to hate. Then, when they'd just cleared the blast radius, there was an earth shattering BOOM, and a blazing flare of light heralded the loss of the facility.

Up at the main window Cortes stood, hands pressed to the glass. His heart pounded in his ears as he watched the facility burn. Another one gone. He closed his eyes, resting his forehead against the glass. God it felt so good to know that was another facility that could never hurt anyone again..

"Aran?" a familiar voice at his side. he opened his eyes, looking at the AI's concerned expression.

"I'm OK," he smiled, leaning against the blondes shoulder "I'm just relieved..."

Sirus arm wrapped around him, and he softly nuzzled against the seijins hair "I know Aran.." he whispered "and it makes me happy to see you smile.."

Dahlia watched the two from her seat and smiled. they really DID make a sweet couple. Cortes had never been so settled in anyone's company as he was in Sirus'.

"Its so hard to believe he not human huh?" Wayan spoke up.

She nodded "I know. I cant get my head around how much he's changed. He was a little cold, kinda weird at first.."

"yeah, but now...you'd never know he's artificial unless he suddenly decides to go flying.."

"I don't even know how long it took to come up with the idea...but its the ONE exception where I'll say..."nice work" about the Sphere!"

"Damn straight.."

Up at the window the two had finally stood apart. Cortes was smiling, he looked much better.

Hitomi looked over at them at last, noticing how companionable they seemed.

Spotting her Sirus waved and she ran over.

"What're you going to do now.." he asked her.

"I don't know...id always had this dream.."

"Of what?"

"Well, I want to find someone first. I've heard about the prophecy, about the lady of light...Lena. I want to find her first. Its been my mission to find her, wherever she is. What?"

She stopped as she seen both adults suddenly snigger-snerk, as if it was something funny.

"What?" she snapped, getting mad now.

"F-Follow me.." Sirus laughed, Cortes nodding, stifling a big grin.

So she trotted after the blonde as he walked down a corridor, Cortes trailing after.

He knocked on Cortes' cabin door.

"Come in!" a girls voice chimed.

Sirus opened the door, shepherding Hitomi min "Hitomi, I'd like you to meet Lena..."

Hitomi's jaw dropped as she caught sight of the 12 year old seijin sat on the bed.

"Hi!" Lena waved, oblivious to the fact she was an idol to Hitomi.

"Lena, this is Hitomi, she's a ...big fan of yours.." Sirus grinned.

"Wow, really? thanks!" Lena bounded over, shaking the gob smacked Hitomi's I "nice to meet you!"

Hitomi followed her over to the bed, where they soon fell into conversation about the prophecy.

Sirus elbowed Aran and they snuck out.

"I think you just made her entire LIFE," Cortes laughed.

"I know..." Sirus smiled "i couldn't resist.."

* * *

Back in the room Lena was having a girly chat with Hitomi. Shed already told her about finding her mother, about Mahad, about the mission to destroy the gene facilities. And everything else in between..

"Wow, that's quite a story.." Hitomi spoke at last.

"Yeah, its been a long fight..." Lena sighed, then smiled "but were gaining more and more rebels each time! The Sphere are going to go down sooner or later!"

"I hope so! I cant believe they seriously have a secret lab thing...I mean..MAKING seijins...it just sounds crazy! But yet..."

"Cortes is living proof it works...but its cruel. He was hurt a lot by Oslo. If Sirus hadn't helped him, he says he would've gone crazy.."

"That guy helped your captain escape...something like that?"

Lena nodded "When he met Cortes he was still working for Oslo, as his aide. From what he's told us, he'd been plotting to get away from Oslo for a while...but until he met Cortes, none of the prisoners was willing to fight back. Cortes was the first test subject. Sirus decided it'd gone too far and helped Cortes stay sane, and then, when we raided the monolith to get him back, he kinda...followed him home. An after that he became one of us, no question.."

Hitomi nodded "he seems nice. I thought he was normal until he suddenly went into ass-kick overdrive!"

"Yeah," Lena frowned a little "he has these things called "combat modes", they're voice activated by the master controller. Which is Cortes of course.."

Now Hitomi understood the purpose of the radio transmission Sirus had given before the fight.

"He's quite friendly with that guy isn't he, I noticed he seems to hang around him a lot...is he working as HIS bodyguard now, instead of Oslo's?"

Lena giggled "you could say that," she grinned "but its more then just a job to him.."

Hitomi frowned "i don't get it-" then the penny dropped and she giggled "you mean they're-?"

"Bingo!" Lena cheered "yep, they're inseparable. Seriously," she smiled "Cortes was in a pretty bad state when we got him back. He was always angry, had nightmares, couldn't stand to accept the power he had...but Sirus..he fixed all that. I guess, you could say he was the reason Cortes got better...and now he cant bear to stay apart from him.."

"wow,," Hitomi said at last "that's so.."

"Sweet?"

"Yeah, pretty much.."

Lena nodded "were all grateful he stayed with Cortes. What Oslo did was unforgivable, but thanks to Sirus, Cortes is happy again..."

Back amongst the crew, Sirus had forgotten all about his creator, but little did he know he'd get to meet him sooner then he first thought..

* * *

Thanks to everyone for waiting, I'm sorry this was so late, various stuff happened, and most of it not good. And thank you to AlexGhost of DeviantArt, for lettign me write as Hitomi, her OC.


	20. Threat Level?

After the 4th day after rescuing Hitomi and the others, they picked up an emergency frequency, and being they were the closest ship on patrol, they turned tail and headed for it.

It was a blazing hot day, and Sirus was visibly overheating. He was flushed, slumped against the chair he was sat in.

"Argh, too damn hot, how d'ya stand it Aran?" he whined to his lover.

Cortes looked down from his position at the helm "wear lighter clothing?" he chuckled.

Sirus gave him a "that's not helping" look.

Cortes laughed, feeling sorry for him "c'mon...I think I have some civilian clothing you can wear."

* * *

The outfit in question was a light long sleeve shirt, with blue coveralls. Compared to the angels normal heavy padding clothing, this was a blessed relief.

"There.." Cortes finished, tying a cute little red handkerchief around his neck.

"What about the wings?" Sirus asked. Although the loose floppy material did a fairly good job of hiding them, if he had to use them then it'd be hard.

Cortes frowned, then, locating a pair of scissors and a sewing kit, adapted the shirt to fit around the base of the wings.

"And if ya want to hide 'em, just carry this on your back," he added, indicating a fairly big backpack.

Sirus hugged him happily "thank you Aran~"

"Heh~ Anything to make ya feel better! Now c'mon, were about to land!"

Slinging the backpack on he followed Cortes off the ship.

* * *

Wayan noted the AI was wearing the captains "plain clothes" outfit he usually kept for infiltrating missions, and chuckled, it actually suited him...

For Sirus it was a relief, the light fabric let the cool breeze ease the core temp down to acceptable levels.

They snuck up on the entrance to the village. It was a fairly run down place, pretty old-west in its style, old style houses and apparently running a generator. Sirus could hear the thrumming sound with more ease then the crew.

The small amount of citizens had been rounded up by the attackers, and by the looks of it they WERE after the kids as Cortes had theorized before.

A large group of mend dressed in black were keeping guns trained on the citizens.

"Whatta we do?" Wayan asked, looking at Sirus, maybe he could..

Catching his glance Cortes scowled " there must be an easier way," he hissed.

"I cant think of it captain..hes the fastest out of us, he could take out the main group of them there, we can pull the hostages out.."

Cortes scowled again, but Sirus squeezed his arm gently "its OK Aran, I don't mind, Wayan got a good point after all. Ill deal with this lot, you guys disable their ship and get the townspeople away from them.."

Cortes sighed, then reluctantly nodded.

Sirus took a moment to register the whole lot of them as targets so the combat system would work, then gave Aran a nod.

Cortes took a deep breath then whispered a single phrase, watching as the angel turned and walked towards the enemy..

* * *

The townsfolk had been enjoying a perfectly normal day, having lunch, playing with the kids, shopping, working...all the normal things. Then out of nowhere a ship had stealth-moded its way onto the block, men piling out and rounding ove everyone they could find. The chief attacker, a saijin, had picked out the kids he could detect were saijin. Luckily due to the presence of so many, Cortes was mixed in amongst the adults auras.

He was just about to give the order to pull out when he seen somebody approaching the centre of town were they were grouped.

He was about 30-ish, blonde with pale skin, wearing a simple farm workers getup.

He was smiling faintly as he strode undaunted towards them.

"STOP RIGHT THERE!" one of the guard bellowed, and a half dozen rifles were aimed at the stranger. But he still didn't flinch, just stared wordlessly at them.

"Hmph, so we missed one of the vermin did we? Stay where you are or I'll open fire!"

But the stranger paid no heed, stepped forward.

Blam. A Shot whizzed past his face, as he smartly sidestepped just enough to dodge it.

"The fuck-?" the leader asked. Something was up..

Sirus grinned, an opening shot, that was ALL the permission he needed.

In a flash he covered the distance between him and the leader in a nanosecond, delivering a swift punch that sent the guy flying 15 feet and knocked him out cold into the bargain.

"Get 'im!" the next in charge screamed. And al hell broke loose. Sirus grabbed one's wrist, effectively dislocating it and making him drop the weapon in pain. As the others swarmed in around him they were equally quickly taken care of, two got their heads banged together; lights out. Another had a first-hand encounter with a wall, nighty-night. One got slung right over the angels head and into two of his team-mates, winding and incapacitating them and knocking him out.

During this madness Cortes and others snuck to the main ship, using timed charges to blow out the engines. The remaining crew flooded out of the ship, but were quickly rendered uncurious by laser blasts and a bow and arrow from Dahlia.

"Nice!" she grinned as she scored a direct hit. These guys were good, but not THAT good.

Sirus meanwhile had taken care of the group of hostages. He quickly cut the ropes tying them up, scanning the area for any more attackers. Until he could confirm all had been dispatched he couldn't shut the combat mode off...

"Who the hell are you boy?" one of the elders asked, but Sirus didn't answer, jumping up onto a low hanging roof, staring across the area. Nothing..

"Where's my son? Leo! LEO!" one woman screams broke his concentration and he began a quick scan of the area again, there! In the distance, one of the men was making a run for the towns scout ship, carrying a franticly flailing child under one arm.

"Got 'im" Sirus muttered, leaping down and running for the man. But the guy looked behind him and seen he had pursuer. he leapt into the craft, firing the engines, and Sirus had to stop to avoid being scorched.

"MY SON! NOOO!" the woman's anguished cries only made Sirus more determined to get the kid back. But the ship had taken flight so his only option was.

With an internal sigh he let the backpack fall, snapping his wings out to full, running off the bloc edge and tearing through the sky after the craft.

The pilot nearly peed his pants when he took look out the window. A flying person? He'd gone mad, no other explanation for it...

WHAM. Sirus landed on the roof, prising open the access panel and dropping down into the ship. With a swift punch between the eyes he knocked the man out and wrested control of the ship.

The young kidnapped stared open-mouthed at his rescuer.

"WOWW!" he grinned at last "that's so cool! Howd ya do that mister?"

Sirus smiled "im a robot~" he said gently "it means I can do a lot of special stuff like that!"

"I always thought robots were boring, but you're awesome!" the kid enthused, earning a smile from Sirus.

"Lets get you back kiddo.." he said.

* * *

Back at the town the townsfolk stared at the spectacle with jaws dropped.

"Did I just see right? Did that fellah just FLY?" one asked.

"Sure look like it pop.." his teenage son added.

"What kind of person it he? Sure isn't human, aint no saijin either?"

"What's happened?" another voice groaned. One of the elder men had kicked up a fuss son landing and had been knocked out by a laser blast. So he'd missed the ass-kicking and arrival of the Nazaire. "the kids-? those men?"

"The kids're fine prof, and as for those guys, some weirdo showed up and knocked 'em all out. Then took off and flew after the bastard that took Leo!"

"Flew?" the mans previously aching head cleared suddenly as he stared at the other "did you say fly...?" only one person could possibly be behind this...but was it possible, and whose side was he on?

Ahead of them the ship landed, the cockpit opening up, and the figure jumped down, carrying Leo in his arms. He set the kid down carefully, getting a grateful hug for his efforts before the kid ran to overjoyed mother.

The man they called "prof" stared in amazement. It couldn't be but it was...

One of the goons stirred and Sirus tensed up, wings snapping out, the un-stopped combat mode flaring up again.

Cortes was just returning to the centre of town, with the rest of the crew in tow when he heard someone else calling Sirus name..

* * *

One of the goons was conscious, and Sirus stepped forward awaiting a fight, but-

"Its alright, you can stand down now, they aren't a threat!" the profs voice choded across the distance, and Sirus posture relaxed, he folded the wings in completely. He blinked, returning to normal operations.

Someone had given the order, but it wasn't the vector, or his master. that left..

Dead silence reigned, the villagers gawped at the prof.

Then at last the stunned Sirus spoke.

"Professor Gideon?" he said quietly, "but how?"

The prof chuckled "its good to se you again my little angel. I was convinced you were destroyed.."

"You know him?" the village chief gasped out at last, all the villagers stared at the grinning prof.

"Sure I do, I helped design 'im after all!"

"DESIGN?" again, from the stunned chief.

"Yes," Gideon smiled, looking at the perplexed Sirus "I helped design his program back when he worked for Oslo. But by the looks of it he ditched that sinking ship a long time ago.."

"But what is he?"

"He's an artificial Intelligence, AI. He's a humanised super computer. The only one of his kind, Oslo commissioned him to be a bodyguard, but im guessing you gave him the slip huh?"

Sirus nodded mutely "he was an a-hole, pardon the phrase."

"So who have you been travelling with now-?"

"That'd be ME!" Cortes accented tones rang out and he jogged into the square, stopping beside Sirus, saijin power still flowing around his hands and arms. It dissipated and eh fixed his gaze on Gideon "Who're you?"

"I'm Professor Gideon, Sirus lead programmer-"

"You're Gideon?" Cortes walked over to him "I have a bone to pick with you-"

"Aran!" Sirus sudden speech made Cortes stop.

"Sorry," he muttered, then frowned at Gideon again "you designed his combat mode right? Well cant you give him control of it himself?"

"Well I can try, itd take awhile to work out, but if that's what he wants...but whore you again?"

"Captain Cortes, of the Saint Nazaire! And Sirus is one of ours, so don't try anything funny!"

Gideon chuckled "ive no intention of taking him away from you mr Cortes, he seems happy enough where he is.."

Cortes glowered at him, and Sirus laughed a little. Aran was so...possessive, but in a cute way..

"Calm down Aran, its alright.."

Cortes stared over at the angel he gave a smile and a nod, and relaxed, his tone a little less gruff when he spoke to the professor.

"I only want what's best for him, and he needs to be able to control his own attack modes, not have to keep asking me every time!"

Gideon nodded, then did a double take, "wait, I programmed Oslo to be able to control him, how did you-?"

Sirus looked vaguely guilty, and Cortes coughed and stared at the floor, wondering where to even START explaining that one..

"Daft boy, you were meddling with it weren't you?" Gideon addressed Sirus, he laughed and admitted being guilty.

Sirus noted the fearful looks the rest of the village was giving him. Clearly these guys weren't used to seeing high technology of any kind, and something that looked as human as he did was a bit much at once. He could hear them whispering to each other:

"A super computer? Is he for real?"

"Hmph, seems mighty odd, but those wings weren't an illusion.."

"I thought he was a human being, 'till you see them wings he looks normal as anyone.."

"Why would the Sphere want a human-looking computer?"

Here Sirus decided to put their backs up just a little, he was an AI, not deaf;

"Oslo wanted a bodyguard, one he wouldn't have to exert much effort to control."

They all shut up, looking guilty and slightly embarrassed.

Cortes smirked, that'd teach them to be rude! He hated anyone having a go at his precious angel...

"Hmph, it aint natural, designing something that's meant to be a machine to look human. Seems like an awful lot of boundaries that shouldn't be crossed.."

Sirus flinched ever so slightly, feeling a sense of unease. He looked over at the man who'd spoken, it was the rescued kids dad.

Beside him Cortes cracked his knuckles ominously, but the angel shook his head as if to say "don't, please", and he reluctantly lowered them.

More and more people were starting to whisper to each other. Sirus fidgeted, uncomfortable with how they were glaring at him.

At the same time he was starting to get angry. Why did it always come down to the fact eh wasn't human? People were nice, but then they found out what eh was, and suddenly they turned nasty. It was pathetic...

He shook his head no, that was being mean himself, he couldn't expect people to just...accommodate the idea he was a machine.

"Computers are meant to look like computers," the boys dad reiterated "is all there is to it,"

Right then was when Sirus decided he'd run out of room in the play_nice file.

"Well you might want to take a look at yours then. The things are so outdated I could hack the whole lot and shut it down in 10! So why not spend less time whining about what you're too "frightened" to understand, and think about why those guys got in so easy!" he turned and walked off, then stopped, smirking almost cruelly, although they could see he was mostly upset "id offer to help, but id probably scare your precious computers!"

Then he snapped the wings out defiantly, their lethal metal blades glittering in the sun "you cana assume all you want, but if you don't bother to find out the truth, do you really have thr right to look at me like that?"

Then he kicked doff, using enough force to send a massive dust cloud flying.

Cortes frowned, he hadn seen Sirus that upset since. Well...ever.

"Well, are ya happy?" he snapped, turning to leave "c'mon, were leaving!"

"Cortes?" Dahlia asked, confused.

"Wait, you cant leave! What if more come?" the kids dad blurted. Cortes stopped.

"Well maybe you should've thought about that BEFORE you ran your mouth about my crew member!" he stormed towards the ship.

Dahlia merely shrugged and followed after, ditto Wayan.

The guy could only stand and stare.

Were they really that fond of the guy?

"Seems to me you were a little ungrateful Farcet, your little Leo would've been in Sphere hand sif Sirus hadn't gone after him. I'm gonan take a guess and say he didn't want you to see what he is, but he's designed to protect, and from what that captain said, he's reworked his own programming to serve his new masters ideals. Given his new masters a pirate, you do the math."

He sighed, shaking his head, speaking to the assembled townsfolk;

"I'm aware he may seem a little scary, but I can testify to the fact that he's developed that way entirely by his own. When I first handed control over to Oslo, he was as cold and emotionless as you'd expect of a machine. He even developed a malicious streak at first, mimicking Oslo. Then, from what the diagnostics told me, he began changing, to go against Oslo's orders for nearly two years before he upped and left. I don't know the full story, im just piecing it together from radio transmissions and rumours. But let me ask, before you seen the wings, did he seem a threat to you?"

After an awkward silence, people shook their heads, muttering to themselves.

"He did beat those guys that tied us up.."

"He seemed a good fighter, I assumed he'd simply been an ex-guardian or something, with reflexes like that.."

Gideon nodded "and has he hurt anyone at all?"

More mutters;

"Well, no.."

"He chased after the kid..."

"He seems very gentle, I don't think he's malious or crazy.."

At that moment little Leo suddenly freed himself from his mothers fussing and ran over to his dad, asking "hey, wehre that guy go?"

"Who?" his dad asked, slightly distracted.

"The angel dad!" the kid grinned "I thought all computers were like those mean brigs, but he was cool! He kicked the guys butt and turned the plane around, it was like a movie!" he frowned at his dad "where'd he go, you didn't yell at him did you? he's not a brig!"

His dad winced, how to explain it..

"Well, its not natural kiddo, he's supposed to be a computer, but he's got a body and a personality? It dotn sit right.."

Leo stamped his foot, gettignupset "that's not fair! IF you'd known, would you have stopped him saving me? Should I have said "sorry, my dad wont like you, see ya!" and end up a guardian?"

Gideon chuckled "seems the kids more perceptive than you lot put together!"

Leo looked up at Gideon "did you make him?"

Gideon nodded, patting the kid "yes, I helped design his program. Its special see, designed to write and re-write itself depending on his master. He's changed a lot since he left the Sphere. He never used to smile, or save people, or even act kind...seems that man taught him a great deal..."

He smiled wistfully "even the way he looks is different...he's matured far beyond what I ever hoped. To see him smile, worry, even fight to protect those he cares about, its a miracle. I only built his program, he's changed that much...all on his own, thanks to those pirates i bet..."

Raising an eyebrow he looked at farcet and added "if you want their help with repairing this place, id advise you try and apologise to that captain. I doubt Sirus will want to come anywhere near. Shame, as he literally COULD rescue this places defences, don't forget, he has the Spheres security knowledge in his head."

* * *

Sirus meanwhile had settled on a mountainous ledge some way away from the town. Here he could see them milling about, fixing the damage done by the attack. He folded his wings down again, feeling sick and ashamed. Why had he lost his temper like that? Was it really because he was upset they didn't like him because of his non-humanity? or was it because he was so used to the Nazaire's crews casual acceptance of him that this was a shock?

-Oh come on,- he chastised himself -you didn't expect EVERYONE in sky land to be so nice. You knew Aran was something special from the moment you met him...I guess other people aren't so nice..-

"...irus...Sirus?" his radio crackled and spat, the voice familiar..

"Aran..." he said softly, feeling a little better.

"Are you alright? Don't worry, the channels secure, its just me..."

Sirus sighed "Aran...I'm sorry, i shouldn't have run off like that. I'm acting like a child-"

"Even if you are, you're acting like a HUMAN child!" Cortes laughed softly "personally i think you have every right. Just because your not human or saijin doesn't give them the right to treat you that way. I told them we were packing up, were leaving..."

"What? BUT...Aran, they still need some help-"

"I know that! But let them do it themselves...or at least they could apologise for what they said..."

Sirus sighed lightly "don't turn them away because of me Aran...ill be fine..."

"I wont stand to have anyone insult you like that!"

"Sit down then cutie,"

"What do you-oh very funny!" Cortes snickered "smartass..."

"Thanks. I think..." the angel responded back.

"Regardless, were not doing anything unless they admit that was a mighty crappy way to treat their rescuer!"

Sirus sighed, and Cortes knew he was worrying.

"Your too nice.." he said at last "they treat you like that, and still you think only of helping them..."

"Please Aran...give them a little help...cheng can sort out the system security.."

Cortes sighed "all right...if it'll make you feel better..." he sounded worried "now come back, you and i can have a bit of peace, let everyone else sort them out..."

The angel blushed "I'll be right there Aran~"

"Yeah you'd better!" the pirate growled, his tone implicating a very pleasant diversion awaited...

Sirus was about to literally take off when a massive explosion rocked the ground. Whirling round he realised the generator hum he'd heard earlier had cut off. That meant one thing...it'd gone up in smoke. literally.

-Sorry Aran, i might be late..- he thought, extending the wings and heading right for it. Sensors picked up a heat signature that wasn't related to the fires scattered about the building the generator was housed in. That meant someone was trapped...

* * *

The closer he got eh seen a teenage boy trying to get past the flames.

Seeing Sirus he looked panicked at first, then figured a scary robot was better then no help at all.

"My brothers in there! We were playing hide and seek, then everything went boom-!"

Sirus just nodded, then scanned the flames, realising there WAS a gap. But it was away from the entrance. Oh well. He'd simply have to bust his way through...

He ran across the flames, hooking his fingers under the sheet metal of he warehouse, and with a surge of power, tore it clear off. He quickly bent and tore a few more sheets of metal out of his way before he could squeeze in.

Inside was a swirling mass of oily smoke and flames. Slowing the respiration filters he quickly looked about for the child, and spotted him crouched in the middle of the room, surrounded by the flames, a few cuts and bruises suggested he'd been hurt by the debris. But that wasn't all that was store din that warehouse, Oil drums, fuel for the generator, were stacked nearby, three of them. One had rolled away and was leaking over the floor.

As Sirus watched, a lick of flame flickered towards it, there was a flare of light...

The kid heard another boom and seen the ceiling above him collapse. He screamed and cowered on the floor, expecting any second to be crushed.

But it never happened.

Instead he felt a warm presence wrap around him, there were a dozen loud clangs, someone cursed in pain.

Opening his eyes, he seen strands of pale blond hair sticking to his forehead. It was the guy the adults had been frightened of. He'd blocked a large chunk of blasted metal container with one arm.

"Hey," the guy spoke, smiling gently "its OK...your safe.."

He picked the stunned kid up and held him carefully in one arm and ran through the flames to where his little entrance had been roughly hewn.

The teen outside nearly collapsed in relief when he seen the guy run out of the building. He'd heard the second boom and feared they'd both been killed...

The blonde haired man set his kid brother down, and the shell-shocked boy ran over to hug his big bro, starting to cry from relief.

"Its OK kiddo, I got ya...are you hurt.."

The little one sniffled "n-no, I'm ok..."

The older one checked him over regardless "few cuts and bruises, but they'll heal. Hey, call 'em battle scars eh?" this made the younger one laugh.

Only then did the older one look over the where the blonde angel stood, watching a crowd of people approach. He was rubbing at a cut on his forehead with one hand, those big wings dented in a few places. But it was his arm that drew the attention. It looked distinctly damaged. On a normal human he'd say it look like its been broken, a darkish red fluid was seeping onto his shirt. it didn't look quite like blood, but he was willing to bet it was just as vital.

Shouts reached them above the roar of the flames, as the villagers reached the scene of the explosion.

Sirus tried to leave, but with a surge of panic he realised one of his primary feathers was badly bent outta shape, that would make flying very tricky indeed..

The sheer amount of oil fleeing from the impact in his arm was alarming. He could repair it, but he'd need Gideon's help to get it completely repaired...nanomachines could deal with minor internal injurie4s, aka his self-repair. But a bigger injury like this required some outside help. Help he didn't think he get here...

He was starting to get dizzy, his head ached from a debris impact, possible a few circuits were damaged. Much like a concussion ona human, a blow to the head was potentially dangerous. Luckily this one wasn't, but it'd knocked a few screws loose as mahad would say, and he didn't feel too hot...

But he tried to hide this handicap as the people crowded round the kids.

As soon as he mentioned the rescuer, they all turned to look over at him. But Sirus was gone. Looking up they seen him hopping onto an outcropping of rock. But it crumbled and he was pitched back onto the ground, the injured arm pinned underneath him. He sat himself up, attempting to stem the flow, but it was getting worse.

Worried murmurs were exchanged, the guy looked pretty badly hurt. But he didn't look like he was willing to let them near him. Their approach put Sirus back up, his instincts making the damaged wings snapped up and towards them, the sharp points meaning danger...sharp blue eyes regard them silently, expression mixed between pain and distrust.

-Oh crap...I'm really trapped now...- he panicked internally.

But then he realised he could still run, he could get round them. This in mind he suddenly bolted off from the ground, ducking under the arm of the nearest one as he approached. Putting as much energy as he dared and skirted the lot of them, using his good arm to vault over a fence and backtrack to the entrance they'd arrived at in the start.

Behind him he left a crowd of bemused townsfolk.

"Cant blame him for looking scared, didn't give him much reason to believe us the first time..." one of them commented "guess this is what Gideon meant by "he wont want to come near us again","

"Well what now? That red haired guy he was with is going to blow his fuse! You seen how fierce he was!"

* * *

From a distance little Leo had been watching this. Now he peeled away from the wall he'd been peering round and went after Sirus. He LIKED the angel guy, he wanted to make sure he was OK...

* * *

Sirus managed to sneak back on board the monolith. He stumbled into his precious Aran's room, slumping back against the door.

Cortes looked up, a sweet smile on his face;

"You're late-oh my god what happened?" it was quickly replaced by frantic worry.

He ran over to his Ai, looking at the injury in total panic.

"Did something happen? Those people-"

"NO Aran, nothing like that...it was...an explosion, that's all, generator blew out...ignited some fuel tanks..."

Cortes sat him down "what do we do? You're hurt, this looks serious..."

"I need some tools, could you ask cheng-"

"Sure sure, stay right here..." Cortes planted a worried kiss on his forehead then ran out.

Sirus sighed, then looked closer at the wound. The emergency self repairs had stemmed the flow of fluid, but it needed mending.

* * *

Cortes returned with cheng in tow, and the young boy set about assisting the angel in making a temporary fix for his arm. Once they fixed the most critical parts, the self repair would slowly but surely fix the rest.

"Hey! You cant just barge in here-HEY!" that was Wayan's voice, then there was a bang as a little kid barged into the room. All three occupants looked up, Sirus blinked.

"Leo?" he asked, recognising him "what're you-?"

"I wanted to make sure you were OK, you ran away from the grown-ups so fast!" his eyes widened as he seen the injured arm now resting in a sling "that looks painful.."

"Its fine kiddo, give it a day or so, it'll fully repair...if i can get Gideon to come on board, it'll maybe be healed by tonight..."

"Why don't you come back? They're all panicking now, even dad wants to see you..."

"I'm not sure that's a wise idea. No offence kid, but your dad wasn't exactly welcoming the first time he met him!" Cortes snapped.

"Aran.." Sirus said softly, looking at the cheesed off captain. Cortes sighed, unable to resist that sweet smile.

"I'LL go deal with this..." the human said tot he AI at last.

Sirus nodded and smiled.

"-and I'll bring that professor guy back if i can!" Cortes added as he zipped out the door, snagging Leo en route "c'mon kid, lets go find your father.."

* * *

As they trekked back to the village Leo suddenly piped up "Your a seijin right?"

Cortes froze a moment "yes...?" he said cautiously.

Leo nodded "but your different...your a lot stronger then most the seijins i know..."

Cortes sighed "yeah well, my powers a bit abnormal to say the least, long story, you don't want to know,"

"Oh," was all Leo could say to that.

* * *

Sure enough, back in the centre of town, a worried discussion about the AIS intervention was being held.

"And he just ran off?" Gideon asked. The teenager nodded, hugging his little bro "yeah, i think he was a bit freaked out, probably thought he'd either be blamed for the explosion, or that he'd get hit..."

"What DID cause it to explode?" someone asked.

"I don't know," the bigger brother said, shaking his head "it made a few funny noises, then boom!"

"Probably reached its end...it WAS ancient.."

"I wonder if that guys OK?"

"He's fine, lucky for YOU!" a familiar accent cut through the discussion. They all turned to face the angry Cortes, his uniform stained by the AIs blood.

Everyone looked guilty as hell, particularly Leos dad.

Cortes folded his arms and scowled. Mad as hell barely did his mood justice.

"IS he able to repair himself?" that was Gideon.

"I think so, he was hoping you'd come up to the Nazaire to give him a hand..."

"Why not bring him down here?" Leos dad asked.

Cortes growled "because we want to FIX his injuries, not add any more, mental OR physical!"

With a sigh the father raised both hands in an "i surrender" gesture.

"All right, I'm sorry. You have to understand were simple folk out here, bare basic machinery, not even a fancy computer like the ones your ships use. You suddenly land something that fancy and that...unknown here, you're bound to get some confusion. but," he sighed "ill admit he's proven to be a better well, person then any of us. He came back to help even AFTER we made him feel unwelcome.."

Cortes nodded "he wont let anyone get left behind. Before that thing blew up, he was asking me not to up and leave you lot like i originally felt like. Saying you owe him one is a flipping understatement!"

His loud voice reached everyone in earshot. By now they all looked thoroughly guilty.

Then the radio crackled, it was Sirus.

"Aran?"

"Are you OK has cheng-"

"Its OK, we've stabilised it now, I think it cut kind of close to a main fuel vein...did you find the professor?"

Cortes looked at Gideon, who nodded "we'll be right there, hold on ok?"

"Yeah..."

Cortes cast one final glower at the guy in charge then stormed off.

"Wait." With Leo looking up at him, he couldn't ignore the look in his sons eyes "we want to come with you. I want to speak to him,"

Cortes snorted "fine, but ill leave that last part up to him, so if he tells ya to scram, heed it!"

So the small group returned to the Nazaire.

* * *

Leo ran over to say hi to Sirus as soon as they entered the room. Cheng, noticing the kid was about his age, decided to go talk to him, he hadn't met any kids his age in a long time...

Mr Farcet winced when he seen the bloodied cloth lying on the bed next to the AI, who was staring off into space, cradling the injured arm. Gideon went to him right away and began to unwrap the bandages, reaching for some tools in his pocket at the same time.

Seeing the man wince Sirus smiled weakly "Its worse then it looks. Like the human body, there are several main vessels that supply the bio-fuel. Cut one, and the system cant stay online for long. All it needs is a quick patch and the auto-repair takes care of the rest!"

Gideon frowned a little as he peered at it "it looks bad, but its only a small nick, i can seal this up fast." he looked at the Ai "Can you restrict the flow to this part?"

"Yes, of course...i didn't think to do it earlier...guess i...panicked.."

Leo nudged his dad, so the man coughed and spoke again, aware of Cortes' glare boring into the back of his head.

"I wanted to apologise the conduct you seen earlier. We were shocked to learn something like you even existed, we were hoping for a rescue, but we didn't expect one like that."

Sirus laughed lightly "not many people do,"

"Anyway, I hope you can accept my apologies most of all. Id have lost Leo if you hadn't gone after him, lord knows the boys my pride and joy."

"He's a good kid," Sirus smiled "don't worry about it. TO be honest I'm sometimes sacred of you humans, so I think were even.." he looked up "I cant even begin to mimic the depths of your emotions. Some of the people, I've met...have truly amazed me, their strength and resolve something I can only hope to learn as time goes by,"

As he spoke his gaze slid to focus on Aran, who was leaning on the doorframe, watching all this.

If Gideon caught this subtle hint, he didn't say anything, but everyone there got the distinct impression Cortes meant the most to the AI.

Spying the little blocks Lena had given Cortes, Leo focused on them and began to move then around. They drifted behind his dad and formed into bunny ears. Sirus sniggered loudly, and even Cortes bit back a laugh. Mr Farcet whipped round, but Leo moved the blocks again, out of his view.

"What? What's so funny?" he asked.

"What's going on?" Mahad stuck his head in the door. Cortes made the blocks move to form the words "Idiot" and an arrow pointing at Mahad.

When everyone laughed, Mahad caught sight of it.

"Oh very funny! I know that's you Cortes!"

Cortes laughed and put them back on the table. "what is it Mahad?"

"There's a whole bunch of people...say they want to see you.." he directed this last bit at Sirus.

Cortes sighed "I wonder why..?" he muttered sarcastically. He looked at Sirus "you don't have to.."

Sirus looked up at him and smiled. Gideon had finished the repairs, but had made a makeshift sling to put the arm in.

"Just to let it rest while it finalizes repairs...you can restart full fluid oil flow now.."

Sirus nodded, getting to his feet as he did so.

"Its OK Aran...it not their fault...I was lucky, you and the crew didn't bat an eyelid when I showed up, I knew not everyone would react the same way..."

Cortes sighed, then let it go with a nod.

Sirus smiled happily at him then left the room. Cortes, and the father and son from the village followed suit. Followed by Mahad a second later..

* * *

Yess, im aware its more of a "filler" episode, but i wanted to do a piece about the fact not everyone would warm to an artificial being..that aside, sorry for the delay! ^_^


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